“With the exception of about three songs, everything was written in Australia whilst I was studying in Canberra. Written primarily on piano,” he says. “It was around this time that I started getting into sound production and fiddling around with some beats. I was really driven by the UK sound and that’s why I moved over here. I met Rich Cooper and we started working together. The album was more or less finished at the start of 2014. Yet due to record label constraints and waiting for everyone to be ready, that’s why it has taken so long. It’s finally here though and to be honest, I couldn’t be happier.”
Salvat’s upbringing didn’t set him up for a career in pop music. His mum took him to a classical music recital at the Sydney Opera House at an early age, and contemporary Western music wasn’t on high rotation. However, when he heard Big Pig’s album Bonk, the penny dropped.
“I was about 12 or 13 when I discovered that and I think that album is what made Night Swim so diverse and layered. Drawing influence from Big Pig made it really hard to settle in and focus on what I was aiming to do and that was really frustrating. The bands I was introduced to at that time were quite experimental and that really pushed the boundaries of my musical output. Because of that, I didn’t care about genres this time around, I just let the music happen.”
Salvat’s tastes and influences are diverse right across the board. For example, early Kanye West and Boney M played a big part in shaping Night Swim. The aforementioned producer/drummer Rich Cooper also left his mark. “Rich wanted the album to sound like Blade Runner and I was wondering for ages what the fuck he was talking about,” Salvat says. “That’s not even an album or music-related in any way, and it confused me so much. I think if you listen to it now though, it has quite a cinematic feel to it.”
Through March and April, Salvat’s focus is on the European market. The question remains though, when will see him back in Oz? “I have absolutely no idea about when you are going to see me playing live in Australia, but I guess that is how these things go. The album exploded in France and I am really popular over there right now, and it was released last year. It’s supposed to go Gold this week, which is both really cool and strange at the same time. My band are English and that makes matters worse when trying to talk about coming home to play some shows, unless I did it solo acoustic with a piano.
“That’s how these songs were written so that’s not entirely out of the question,” he adds. “I don’t have the money to pay for bringing my band and it’s very tricky to convince labels to pay for it just because you are from there. I never in my wildest dreams thought that being an Australian artist in Europe would be so hard. If I’d had more radio support at home then it would be an easier proposition. It is definitely up the top of my list of things to do this year.”
BY TEX MILLER
