PARTY OF THREE
Seeker Lover Keeper’s sophomore album is as spinetinglingly euphonious as you’d expect, but for the women behind the music, writing together for the first time proved both a challenge and a joy. By Cushla Chauhan.
THERE’S A LOT of easy laughter among Sarah Blasko, Sally Seltmann and Holly Throsby. The three members of indie/folk band Seeker Lover Keeper have met to discuss their new album and clearly enjoy a connection that runs deeper than musical simpatico.
“We’re all at a similar points in our lives, so the record became something about the things we shared,” says Throsby of Wild Seeds, which comes eight years after their debut self-titled debut album hit number three on the Aria album chart.
Seeker Lover Keeper formed back in 2007 during a late-night pub session when the artists – all fans of each other’s music and successful and respected solo performers in their own right – forged an intuitive kinship.
“It always had to be a fun thing,” Throsby surmises of their musical collaboration – more passion project than moneymaking enterprise.
As such, there was no pressure to release a second record. “We thought we’d get around to it one day, but it wasn’t planned,” explains Blasko of the hiatus, during which much has happened in all their lives. While Seltmann and her family settled in LA, where she collaborated with other artists, wrote for TV, released an album and wrote a novel, Blasko released three records, composed for film, TV and dance, and had a son, and Throsby penned two books, released three albums and had a daughter.
It wasn’t until Seltmann returned home to Sydney a few years back, that the idea to make another record emerged.
Unlike their first album, where songs were composed individually, this time the band set out to write collectively. “I think we all found that confronting,” reflects Blasko. “Writing the lyrics together felt challenging for me, because I’m used to going into my little world and at a certain point I found it hard internally. You can’t really hide in that context.”
Seltmann agrees: “It’s hard because you feel kind of vulnerable. You don’t know if anyone else is going to like it. But it just ended up coming together naturally, where one of us brought in a little idea and then we’d all build a song from that.”
There are 12 tracks on Wild Seeds, allowing each performer four songs each to shine as lead singer. Raw, poetic, a hypnotic melding of their distinct but accordant voices, the thematic journey of the album exposes their shared sensibilities and stage of life. “I think there is a lot of nostalgia on the album, but then a lot of projecting into the future about who you want to be or how much you’ve changed,” says Blasko.
Musical references include Bruce Springsteen, Fleetwood Mac and the Ronettes – artists admired for a “certain timeless classic quality” and strong harmonies. “It’s about different personalities coming together as well,” offers Throsby.
“That’s a huge part of us as a group,” confirms Seltmann. “It’s our voices, our back stories, our personas coming together. I think there’s an innocence in doing something for the first time and that was us writing an album for the first time, and that’s a really beautiful thing.”
The album’s sound was kept deliberately simple – “something that stood the test of time”, observes Throsby. “And Sarah is really good at having a vision of how it could be replicated live, so there’s nothing extraneous, it’s all parts we can play with a band on stage.”
With a national tour imminent, the foresight to strip the sound back in a way that heroes the performers’ voices is about to pay off. But then there’s still that vital question: have they thought about wardrobe?
“Sally has!” answer Seltmann’s bandmates in unison, before the three crack up. While each of the singers rock that effortlessly cool, creative look that defines them as artists, they maintain that their tastes can also differ wildly. “Holly would never do a pussy bow,” quips Blasko, pointing at the one on her shirt.
After an animated debate, it’s decided they’ll aim for a thread of on-stage coordination. A sartorial harmony, then. How very appropriate. Seeker Lover Keeper’s Wild Seeds (Liberation Records) is out August 9, and they tour in September and October. Go to www.seekerloverkeeper.com.au.
“I think there’s an innocence in doing something for the first time and that was us writing an album”