Novak
- Self-Titled
Novak
Jeremy Hepburn-Guitar
Phil Robinson-Drums
Kirsten Morley-Bass
David Gerrard-Miscellaneous
Adele Williams-Vocals
Tamsin Snell-Flute Jane Smith-Guitar
Novak the album was recorded
earlier this year at Quickspace studios and produced by
Quickspace’s Tom Cullinan (former prime mover in
Th’ Faith Healers). The album mines a rich vein of melodies: "Fruit
Cooler" and "By Peggy’s Will" hint at
a predilection for beautiful ballads underscored by Adele’s
gentle crooning – while "Lord of the World" possesses
the sexiest of accordians ever…honest.
The Birmingham (England) Seven
have ever so quietly been crafting the riches of musics.
Their beginnings can be traced back some years, when in time
honored fashion, having met at a Sonic Youth gig, they decided
to forge their own sonic future. Over the intervening period,
Novak have released a succession of mesmerizing and haunting
singles. Their live performances exude an unknowing, eccentric
cool; their nonchalance unsettles; yet they still draw you
in like a moth to the light.
Novak
provide a vital and viable alternative. They are a band that
is willfully unassuming
but equally determined. Novak are not being churlish: they
realize this allows them the space to create something altogether
more interesting. There are no easy reference points – think
the blissed out beauty of MBV; the deft pop touch of Portishead;
the majesty of Mercury Rev – and some stunning tunes.
This
Birmingham, England, septet floats through the same painfully
blissful
universe charted by Sonic Youth's masterpieces Sister and
Daydream Nation. Only they do so from a self-imposed kiddie-table
perspective. Novak are not timid about injecting a beautifully
dorky flute fluttering, a harmonica hum or a xylophone zip.
Throughout the disc, childish instrumental accents frighten
and electrify with their simplicity. The false harmonics
in "Cross Purposes" bite through accordion wheezes
and Adele Williams adorable vocals.
With
sonic similarity to their pals Quickspace (not surprisingly
as 'Spacer Tom
Cullinan produced this album) and their own krautrock revisionism,
Novak develop a claustrophobic tension ("Boy Scouts
of America") and explore Prolapse's less confrontational
moments ("Fruit Cooler"). -Alternative Press
Novak's
seven members crank out a formidable wall of sound, one braced
by guitar
fuzz, painted with pastel female vocals, and decorated with
accordion, mallet instruments, and woodwinds. At times Novak
sounds like a mellow Mekons (maybe it's the squeezebox),
at others like a Mercury Rev with a misfiring piston. The
band's debut is a handful: eight tracks that vary from trippy
bong-alongs ("Boy Scouts of America") to drum-heavy,
shoegazing pop ("Burning Hoof"). A song like "By
Peggy's Well" is nearly perfect, with Adele Williams'
vocals playing adept hide-and-seek with crystalline guitars
and glockenspiel in a bittersweet, snowballing ballad. -Magnet
A seven piece effort
from Birmingham, England, Novak met at a Sonic Youth show
a few years back and joined up to work in musical partnership.
The ideals they garnered from SY are revealed in their use
of jangly sound landscapes that build and intensify; but
that's where the similarities end.
Novak go to outer
space and back, while managing to pull from an incredibly
wide spectrum of influences. In the spirit of peers like
Quickspace and Broadcast, Novak are exploring a melodic and
hypnotic blend of pop. The two guitars forma blend of sprinkly
and chugging noises, often very un-guitar like. In addition,
there are a host of toy instruments added to the stew, including
mouth organ, xylophone, and whatever else they dragged with
them to the studio (a reviewer has noted that one of the
seven members does nothing but plat different weird instruments
on every song). There is also a glorious full-on flute player
whose name is Tasmin Snell.
In
spite of the fact that there are seven musicians at work
here, the music has
a wonderful sense of sparseness. Nobody is walking on anybody
else; when there is singing, the music makes room; when it's
time for the trippy guitar flanged-wah part on "Blue
Chinook" (the first single), the flute support and builds
up tension.
Lead
singer Adele Williams sings in a very sweet, melodic, and
slightly flat
way that is endearing in the tradition of bands like Stereolab
and Movietone. Each song weaves on for at least five minutes;
but you don't really notice their length, as they seem to
move and sweep through the different sections with the deftness
and unhurried subtlety of a sonata. When the music does build,
it becomes much more intense, because the band have taken
their sweet time to arrive there. "Boy Scouts of America," a
foray into distorted vocal experimentation and driving rhythms,
is exceedingly cool. How can they make a flute rock like
that. -Puncture
Novak
builds from a foundation akin to mid-period Stereolab, with
female vocals
gliding above lithe, droning grooves that allow space for
occasional cacophony and aggression. It's Novak's choice
of instrumentation, though, that freshens the equation. The
presence of accordion on several tracks is initially unsettling,
but Novak establishes it as a viable alternative to Farfisa
in anchoring a drone. Airy flute passages inevitably recall
Mercury Rev, while toy xylophone and gritty tape loops and
rhythm tracks instill a rough-hewn post-rock quality. Tops
among several high points id "Fruit Cooler," in
which circular flute and guitar figures percolate for six
minutes before and unexpected refrain releases the tension.
A skill for repeated, deceptively facile melodies makes the
disc's eight extended tracks pass all too quickly.-New
Music Monthly
This
is music that takes the long way home because it can. And
while the journey
can sometimes be extended, an impressive array of sounds
ensures it's rarely dull. Novak's foundations are the standard
rock ingredients, topped by Adele Williams' soothing vocals.
But where the band departs from the norm (and where they
most betray their love for Mercury Rev) is in the album's
pervasive kitchen sink methodology. In addition to accordion
and flute, we hear a selection of other devices, including
children's toys (anyone remember Pianosaurus?), chimes, mouth
harp, and tape manipulation. When these ingredients combine
perfectly, as on the dreamy fantasia "By Peggy's Well," the
effect is like walking into your closet and coming out in
NeverNever-Land. -Raygun |
