This could very well be a Wavelength first'”somebody has already been profiled and praised by the likes of Rolling Stone and we're just getting to her now. Australia's New Buffalo make cotton candy indie pop sweet enough to have had their most recent album, The Last Beautiful Day, named as one of the magazine's top 50 albums of 2004 and for Toronto's own Arts & Crafts label to pick it up and release it in these parts. Shaunna Bednarek was too broke to even splurge on a phone card, so the nice Arts & Crafts people helped her out with setting up an email exchange with frontwoman Sally Seltmann.

What was the appeal of having Arts & Crafts release your North American debut?
I love Feist, and also Arts and Crafts just seemed like the right home for me. They are a strong independent label, and I could tell from first speaking with them, that they would look after me.

How do you think already being established and popular in Australia will hurt or help you in North America?
I don't think this should make much difference. If people love the music, then it shouldn't matter whether you are popular or successful in another country, although I guess it can sometimes have a bit of an influence on people who just like things because other people like them!

How did you react to being named one of the top 50 albums of 2004 by Rolling Stone?
I was happy to be in that top 50 list. I worked hard at making this album, and never thought I could produce and record an album on my own, so it was a nice pat on the back.

What were your personal top albums of 2004?
Well, I like Let It Die, by Feist, and I like both the Bright Eyes albums, plus I have been listening to a lot of Ethiopian music from the 60's, and mix tapes that friends made me.

When I typed "New Buffalo" into Google, the first result is a place called New Buffalo, Michigan. Have you ever heard of or been there?
Yes. I have been there and had photos taken in front of New Buffalo signs and New Buffalo police cars! I sort of made the name up, then realised it was a place.

We know that when it's winter in Australia, it's summer here. We know that Australian toilets flush the opposite direction of ours. We know Kylie, Silverchair, Jet, Olivia Newton-John and, of course, kangaroos. What should we really know about Australia?
You should know Byron Bay, most incredible beaches and lush forests and amazing food and wine. You should know The Year My Voice Broke, a great Australian film, and you should know Tim Winton, a great Australian author...and The Blue Mountains just out of Sydney, where there is huge valleys and rock formations...one called The Three Sisters...three huge rocks.....Aboriginal dreamtime stories tell of how the rocks came about,  and when you stand at the edge of a cliff looking out over huge valleys full of gum trees, it has a blue haze, hence the name The Blue Mountains.

And, to turn the tables, what are your preconceptions of Canada and Canadians?
I hear good things about Canadians. The U.S. is all over the place, all over the world, which is a bit boring, so I am more intrigued by Canada. And that Emerald Lake? I have seen photos.

Who's in your touring band and what do they play? Or do you have one? Who are you bringing with you to play Wavelength?
I'm playing solo when I come to Canada. I play keyboard or piano, electric guitar, and do a bit of karaoke. My live line-up changes all the time. I am currently on tour in Australia with a vibraphone player, and a guy who plays in all the samples, and vintage synth, and melodian, and guitar. But people seem to love my solo shows the most.

By Shaunna Bednarek