Sally SeltmannSally Seltmann has been gone too long, and her Melbourne fans are overjoyed to see her again. The woman formerly known as New Buffalo arrives on stage with minimal fanfare and takes her seat behind the polished black baby grand, kicking off her set with a couple of crowd favourites, Book Song and On The Borderline.
Seltmann is in the process of finishing her next album, so her set hits that rare sweet spot – plenty of beloved tracks from the last album, Heart That's Pounding (and a dash of New Buffalo to boot), and a sampling of her new material, which keeps the set feeling not too predictable or familiar. She introduces her fans to new work like the LA-inspired Holly Drive and the brilliant Right Back Where I Started From.
The Spiegeltent is an ideal venue for Seltmann, who is just about the opposite of in-your-face, especially when performing solo and accompanying herself on guitar, piano or keyboard. The evening feels less like a “gig” and more like a “recital” – during songs, the audience is silent, even rapt. When most artists announce that they're about to play a new song, it's often seen by the fickle audience as an excuse for a chat and another drink – but not at this show. Seltmann commands the undivided attention of her audience, and her sweet voice is the only sound filling the room.
The breadth of Seltmann's ambition and accomplishment is felt towards the end of the set – she plays a Seeker Lover Keeper song she wrote, Even Though I'm A Woman, a new number, The Small Hotel, and closes the evening with a beautiful rendition of Harmony To My Heartbeat. It's a beautiful gig – Seltmann is at her stripped-down best, and it looks like she has plenty of brilliance on offer with the upcoming album.
