Spdfgh by Christina Hannaford. In 1996, for her 21st birthday she shared a party with fellow indie singer, Ben Lee (ex-Noise Addict), who turned 18 on the same day (11 September): each had a special cake made by Meyerratken with icing as a painting of each individual. In 1997, after Lustre 4 disbanded, Seltmann moved to Melbourne where she attended an art school and worked as a photographer and waitress. In early 1999 she worked with Bowers again to compose a track for the latter's debut solo EP, Sunday. Seltmann provided backing vocals on "Electricity" for Melbourne-based electronic band, The Avalanches' 1999 single – it was later on their debut album, Since I Left You (2000). New Buffalo years By 2000, Sally Seltmann had re-invented her musical style to create New Buffalo: she adopted a sound that replaced guitars with keyboards over smooth paced bass and soothing beats. In February 2000 Seltmann's debut release as New Buffalo was the track "16 Beats", which was available as an MP3 download via Ben Lee's web site. Of her musical transition, Seltmann said "I used to be in an all-girl punk band called Lustre 4. We were very, very loud... There were four of us [...] touring and having fun [...] Now I make dreamy pop songs [...] I like cutting up orchestral strings, but not plain-jane style". In 2001, Seltmann (as Sally Russell) won a Professional Development Award for 'Pop/Dance Music' from the Australasian Performing Right Association. That year she signed with Modular Recordings and released her debut five-track EP, About Last Night, featuring "16 Beats". The EP was produced by her fiance, Darren Seltmann of The Avalanches. MusicOMH's Michael Hubbard noted "[it] is a slow-paced affair of 1950s sci-fi movie effects, cut-back rhythm section ... what we end up with is something that's not quite a soundtrack, not quite a pop tune and really not quite anything". The EP was also released in the United Kingdom through Heavenly Recordings, which saw New Buffalo invited to tour throughout the UK supporting Ed Harcourt in 2001. In 2002, Seltmann recorded tracks in Los Angeles with Jake Davies, but after Heavenly withdrew their financial support, she decided to set up her own home studio, The Lonely Studio, in Melbourne. In 2003, Sally Russell had married Darren Seltmann and they lived in suburban Yarraville. There she wrote and arranged her debut album, The Last Beautiful