Sally Seltmann is the award-winning Australian singer – songwriter behind intoxicating albums such as ‘Hey Daydreamer’, ‘Heart That’s Pounding’, ‘Somewhere, anywhere.’ and ‘The Last Beautiful Day’. She is the co-writer of the hit song ‘1234’, performed by Feist. Sally Seltmann previously performed under the name New Buffalo, and is a member of Seeker Lover Keeper. Sally Seltmann’s first novel ‘Lovesome’ will be published by Allen & Unwin on 24th April 2018.
In 2017, Sally performed shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Fairgrounds Festival, as well as a run of Parlour shows.
In 2016/ 2017, Sally and her husband Darren Seltmann composed the music for the ABC TV show The Letdown. Sally released ‘Dancing in The Darkness’, a song which featured on the show, and also went on to win Best Original Song Composed For The Screen, at the 2016 Screen Music Awards.
2016 also saw the release of ‘Better Place’, a song Sally Seltmann co-wrote with Rachel Platten. ‘Better Place’ was released as the third single from Rachel’s album ‘Wildfire’, an album which peaked in the US Billboard 200 charts at number 5.
In January 2015 Sally launched her independent record label Three of Hearts. To coincide with the announcement, she released a single called ‘We Are The Music’. The song premiered on the US website Idolator.com, and they described the track as a ‘dreamy pop anthem’.
In February 2014, Sally Seltmann released her fourth studio album ‘Hey Daydreamer’. Produced with her husband Darren Seltmann, ‘Hey Daydreamer’ premiered on American Songwriter.com. The album was released in North America through Arts & Crafts, in the UK / Europe through Lojinx, in Australia through Caroline, and in Japan through Rallye. Rolling Stone described the album as ‘a beguiling listen, a pop album with a vibrant twist, embellished by dream-like string arrangements’, and Mojo magazine gave the album a glowing 4 star review. Shortly after the release of ‘Hey Daydreamer’ Sally toured Australia, followed by performances at Rockwood Music Hall in New York, and Largo in Los Angeles.
Previous to this Sally formed a band called Seeker Lover Keeper with fellow Australian singer-songwriters Sarah Blasko and Holly Throsby. In 2011 Seeker Lover Keeper’s debut self-titled album peaked in the Australian ARIA charts at number 3. Recorded in New York, the album features Jim White (Dirty Three) on drums. The band’s song ‘Even Though I’m A Woman’ (penned by Sally) hit number 17 on Triple J’s hottest 100. Soon after the album’s release, Seeker Lover Keeper enjoyed a successful tour across Australia, followed by a sold out Heavenly Sounds tour.
In 2010 Sally released her solo album ‘Heart That’s Pounding’. The album was co-produced with Francois Tetaz (Gotye), and the first single ‘Harmony To My Heartbeat’ was Song Of The Day on NPR. Indie Rock Reviews described the album as “a perfect blend of intelligent lyrics, Seltmann’s gorgeous voice and some amazing instrumentation”. ‘Heart That’s Pounding’ was released in Australia, North America (through Arts & Crafts), and Japan. To coincide with the release, Sally toured across Australia and the US, which included performances at Splendour in The Grass, Woodford Folk Festival, and at SXSW.
‘Heart That’s Pounding’ was short listed for The Australian Music Prize in 2011. The title track for the album featured in the Australian TV show ‘Offspring’, and ‘Dream About Changing’ featured in the US TV shows ‘Teen Wolf’ and ‘Mistresses’.
Before Sally Seltmann released albums under her own name, she went by the name New Buffalo. Her second album as New Buffalo was released in 2007. Titled ‘Somewhere, anywhere’, the album won the MySpace Public Vote Award in 2007, which was part of the Australian Music Prize. ‘Somewhere, anywhere’ was also short-listed for the Australian Music Prize in 2007. Written, recorded and produced by Sally, ‘Somewhere, anywhere’ was also nominated for an ARIA award in the Adult Contemporary category.
The album’s first single ‘Cheer Me Up Thank You’ featured on Greys Anatomy, and Bon Iver covered the song ‘Emotional Champ’ during one of his live performances. ‘Emotional Champ also featured in the film ‘Gardens Of The Night’. On the back of releasing ‘Somewhere, anywhere’, New Buffalo toured headlining shows around Australia, as well as supporting Paul Kelly and Missy Higgins on a national tour.
April 2018.
Sally Seltmann’s debut album as New Buffalo ‘The Last Beautiful Day’ was released in 2004 and received glowing reviews worldwide, with both The New York Times and UNCUT magazine describing it as ‘intoxicating’.
Written, arranged and produced by Sally, the album features performances from Beth Orton and Dirty Three’s Jim White. ‘The Last Beautiful Day’ was feature album of the week on the Australian radio stations JJJ, RRR and FBI.
Previous to this, Sally released her debut New Buffalo EP ‘About Last Night’. The 5 song EP was produced by her husband Darren Seltmann, and was released on Modular in Australia, and on Heavenly in the UK / Europe. Vintage keyboards, samples and electronic beats feature prominently, with Sally’s dreamy vocals on top.
As well as recording and performing her own music, Sally has also had success with writing songs for other artists. Sally co-wrote Feist’s Billboard Hot 100 top 10 Hit ‘1234’, which was originally titled ‘Sally’s Song’. ‘1234’ was nominated for two Grammy awards in the categories of Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and Best Short Form Music Video, and Sally won Breakthrough Song Writer of The Year at The Australian APRA music awards.
Sally Seltmann has toured with various artists including Cat Power, Broken Social Scene, Feist, Stars, Bright Eyes, Bon Iver , Ben Lee, Architecture In Helsinki and Paul Kelly.