New Buffalo - Last Beautiful Day

Genre rock Publisher Arts & Crafts External Links Official Website Arts & Crafts

Australian Singer/songwriter Sally Seltmann's, aka New Buffalo, first album with Canadian label Arts and Crafts may remind you of a little girl singing in a field of daises. The same way that listening to The Sundays or Lisa Loeb can bring out that inner innocence. In fact, Last Beautiful Day is a mixture of just about every female indie rock chick you have ever heard; yet somehow, it is completely original. Seltmann's soft, nurturing voice floats like clouds over all kinds of eclectic sounds. At times the album sounds like it should be playing on a record player in the twenties, i.e. "On Sunday." Other times like on "Recovery," the album makes you want to smile and take a walk on a bright happy sunny day. But just when you put on your favorite Sunday hat and prepare to walk out the door, there comes a song like "Come Back" with an awful high pitch moaning and lame acoustic guitar picking that make you want to kill yourself. Make no mistake about it, the suicidal tendencies brought about by this song are not because of any kind of brilliant effectiveness, but because it is excruciating to listen to.

If however, you live through this song and have no problem pressing the skip button, there is enough here to tip your hat to. Most of the album is as creatively ambitious as it is beautiful. Seltmann experiments with tons of instrumental variations and receives a little help from friends Beth Orton and Dirty Three drummer Jim White. Perhaps the most impressive achievement of the album is the fact that every song sounds just a little different from the other. There are jazz arrangements, organ and keyboards that call to mind Mates of State on "It'll Be Alright," and even a piano ballad on "Yes." Indeed, there is plenty here for the average music connoisseur to appreciate, but nothing here that's too awe-inspiring.