“Oh it’s embarrassing,” giggled Sally Seltmann, before admitting that as a young girl that she actually wanted to be a Physical Education teacher and then move into advertising. Which is a far cry from the Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) Award winning singer/songwriter that she is today. “I didn’t think that I’d be this. Music was always such a part of my life that I took it for granted. I didn’t really see that I would follow it as something to try and make a job out of.”
But make a job out of it she did, having released records The Last Beautiful Day and Somewhere Anywhere, as New Buffalo. Her latest release titled A Heart that’s Pounding, is the first that first with her name Sally Seltmann. “It was my label - Arts and Crafts, in North America that asked me if I’d ever considered being Sally Seltmann and I had thought about it as I found it really annoying having to explain to people that New Buffalo was a solo project and not a band,” she laughed.
Since her third record release, Heart that’s Pounding, Seltmann has moved from Melbourne back to her hometown of Sydney. Initially she had moved to Melbourne because she had fallen in love with her husband, Darren Seltmann (of the Avalanches.) “I do believe in true love and I believe you can make the best life possible for yourself, not focussing on how crap everything is. I used to find it very hard to make decisions in life. But when I met my husband, everything seemed very clear to me. I gave up Sydney because I believed so much in the love,” says Seltmann. “I very much go with my feelings. It’s nice to be able to put a poetic milk on life.” Though Seltmann did say that she viewed life more romantically when she was a little younger, where she would think along the lines of, “the door was locked and I’ve lost my key, its got to mean something” and she would come up with “all these reasons” of what it could mean.
Melbourne may be the culture capital of Australia, but Seltmann says that Sydney, is the prettiest city in the world, even more so that Paris. “I love the harbour, the beaches and the landscape. I love all the sandstone and my family live there too, that makes me a little bit biased,” she said. In contrast Seltmann says Sydney is very different to Melbourne. “People in Melbourne seem to dress a bit better and it’s a bit more stylish. There are a lot more bars and places with beautiful interiors, like cafes. Sydney is a lot more outdoorsy and way sunnier, you feel more like meeting people in a park in the sunshine rather than hanging out in dark clubs.”
“Id love it if people described me as bohemian, though I think I’m a bit too uptight,” Seltmann said, though if she had met herself out at a party and had to describe herself to someone else she would describe herself as “giggly and funny.” I suggested ‘whimsical.’ “Yes and no,” she said and I can vision the Heart that’s Pounding cover with the photo of her with her head tilted slightly to the side. “I wouldn’t describe myself as that, but my music comes across as that I guess.”
Above: Cover of Heart that's Pounding.
Despite its whimsical sound, Seltmann’s music only partly reflects her life. “My music is very feminine, and very emotional, and my life is also very emotional… but I’m a bit more sporty. I have a slight tomboyish side that I don’t think comes across in my music,” she says, having played Basketball, Soccer, Netball, Water Polo, Softball and Swimming. “I liked Basketball a lot better because it was more physical. I remember at school I would play basketball in the summer and in the winter I would play soccer.” Seltmann also can surf, play drums, likes running and told me proudly that she was the school champion at swimming.
But don’t the athletic talk fool you. Seltmann is a treasure hunter, as a keen vintage and opportunity shopper. She told me excitedly that her best buy has been a cream, silk, skirt from an Opp Shop on Smith Street in Melbourne and on another occasion she bought a pair of men’s Prada shoes. Savers is one of her favoured haunts, “there is one in Footscray, it’s massive and it’s amazing. They categorise all the clothes in size. So you go in there and everything is very organised. I love how long it takes to go opp shopping too, but it’s great as you can quickly find what you want in your size.” Though she also favours places in Toorak, “I love the Opp Shops in posh suburbs where there are amazing women who work there and you get all designer clothes.”
Heart that’s Pounding was written to be much more uplifting and collaborative than the last two records by Seltman. “I made each album as a reaction to the previous album that I had made. So the previous New Buffalo album was made, by myself, in a shed, with a piano and it was a very, solitary experience.”
For Heart That’s Pounding, Seltmann had about 16 songs to choose from. “I wrote some a few years ago, but I had a bit of a burst in song writing where I wrote about five of them over a few months.” She said. Seltman also worked closely with Melbourne based producer Francious Tetaz, “we kind of just sifted through the songs. Sometimes you can have too much of one style of song on the album, so we just picked a few.”
Ultimately what got Seltmann to where she is today is the ability to focus and follow her heart. Although she credits Francious Tetaz, for his input, “He is funny. We kind of share a similarity in terms of how we love to analyse people’s relationships. He’s got a lot of energy and for me, working with him, he’s just kept me n the right mood and right frame of mind. He is quite a jolly person.”
“What is right for one person, could be completely wrong for someone else,” said Seltmann when I asked about what advise she would give about love, life and the universe. But what she did say was, “I know of a few people who are talented and incredibly gifted when it comes to the arts, but then you’ve also got to have that side to your personality where you crave and your driven and work on the same sort of things.” Seltmann studied Fine Art at The College of Fine Arts in Sydney and greatly enjoyed photography, but in the end, she had to make a tough decision. “A lot of creative people have a million ideas and don’t hone in on one thing… in the end I decided to focus on just the music.”
Comment below and let others know where your secret Opportunity or Vintage store is, and what your best buy has been?
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