Ben Salter delivers new album from the heart

The 40-year-old songwriter is a member of Giants of Science, The Gin Club and The Wilson Pickers - and that’s only the better-known acts. It’s fair to say booking tours and scheduling album releases is a challenge.

“I can’t just commit to one [style], I want to have a crack at everything,” Salter says. “I’ve been in lots of types of bands and I’m interested in different types of music and I’m the kind of person who wants to be in everyone else’s band.

“Every time I see a band I like I wonder why aren’t I doing that sort of music? I get bored doing the same thing.”

The Wilson Pickers and Gin Club, in particular, have delivered Salter awards and critical acclaim, but his real passion lies in his solo material. Salter released his third album Back Yourself last month and it’s arguably his most impressive record yet.

“The solo thing is where my heart is,” he says. “It’s the closest to the music I hear in my head.

“When I’m writing for The Wilson Pickers I’m working within the boundaries of what we have staked out and the same with Gin Club or Giants Of Science. But when it’s Ben Salter, I feel I can do anything.”

That’s certainly true. Back Yourself traverses traditional folk (Where Corals Lie), punk (Nazi Paraphernalia), Americana (Back Yourself) and even jazz (I Need You).

During the recording process at Tasmania’s Marion Bay and Huon Valley, Salter used the method of writing song titles on a whiteboard before actually composing the tracks. It was about challenging himself.

“It can be a bit risky and nerve-racking to write stuff when you’ve booked studio time and take the risk of having it be complete rubbish, but that was the whole reason for calling it Back Yourself,” Salter says.

Salter believes self-belief is essential for a songwriter.

“It’s like that classic thing when people go to an art gallery and they say ‘my kid could have done that’, and that’s missing the point, because they didn’t,” he says.

“Your kid didn’t paint that and even if they did, you didn’t knock on a gallery door and say ‘you should exhibit this.’ That’s the whole thing with music and a lot of stuff out there, it’s 80 per cent about saying I think this is worthy and should be taken seriously.

“You can listen to music that’s so simple, yet so powerful, and it’s really just the self-belief of the creator a lot of the time that gets it over the line.”

Since recording the album the Brisbane-bred Salter has left Melbourne and settled in a village outside Hobart.

The isolation and natural beauty of the island state influenced the record and Salter expects it to continue on future albums.

“It certainly is a place where you can feel the sky and the ocean, and the natural elements seem a lot closer, so that can’t help but affect your psychology,” he says.

Ben Salter performs on Sunday at Maitland’s Grand Junction Hotel.