Ben Salter and Emily Fairlight

Ben Salter's love affair with Aotearoa continues this summer with his third trip over the ditch in four years.

local songwriting heroin, Emily Fairlight will be joining him on the Blue Smoke stage for a mesmerizing yet rambunctious performance.

On Saturday the 4th of February Blue Smoke will be open from 5pm so feel free to come early for a little pre-show frivolity..

An incredibly powerful singer and mesmerizing performer, Salter is well known in Australia through his work with a diverse array of bands and projects. He’s released over twenty albums with bands such as The Gin Club, Giants of Science, three time ARIA award nominees The Wilson Pickers, Vandemonian Lags, The Young Liberals and Hownowmer. However he’s most commonly found pushing his esoteric folk/rock/whatever solo schtick on people across Australia and the world.

He’s released two critically acclaimed solo albums and his third, Back Yourself, is due for release later this year. A genre-hopping songwriter's songwriter, Salter has written, recorded and performed alongside artists such as Gareth Liddiard (The Drones), Mick Thomas (Weddings Parties Anything), Tim Rogers You Am I, and Bernard Fanning Powderfinger. He has supported acts including Cat Power, J Mascis, Built to Spill, Counting Crows, Iron & Wine, and many others.

He is no stranger to New Zealand either, having toured here five times over the past ten years. He's toured with Auckland’s hip hop poet extraordinaire Tourettes aka Dominic Hoey, whom he met in a remote Icelandic fishing village, and has performed with local hero Marlon Williams, both as support and a band member. He also once bested Liam Finn in a rap battle.

On record, Ben's music spans a wide range of genres, from progressive, layered rock tracks to sparse string embellished ballads. He sometimes performs with a band but usually it's just him, a guitar and some pedals, performing what he describes as esoteric folk music. He sings pretty good too.