Novella - Novella (ep)

1.       Eat Yourself

How do you announce yourself as an awesome guitar pop band? Try a thundering hum of guitars on the opening and one genius singer called Hollie Warren supplying other worldly vocals is a pretty good start. Plus any song which is a cross pollination of Sleeper and The Shangri-Las is alright by us.

2.       He's My Morning

Cobain would have loved the opening to this song. Full of great pop melodies and shrouded in muffled guitars. The subtle nods and winks to the Pixies with 60s girl group harmonies continue here with great gusto. Sit back with an ice cold beer and enjoy.

3.       Don’t believe Ayn Rand

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome back to your lives intellectual pop music. Remember that great feeling when you first heard Meat Is Murder, well, Novella have tapped into that feeling brilliantly.  Ayn Rand was a mere name to us at start of this song. After research (embarrassingly beginning on Wikipedia) we came to realise and debate the work of one of Objectivism’s leading thinkers. Accompanying this with Graham Coxon-esque guitar riffs circa ‘No Distance Left To Run’ makes one hell of a combination.

4.       Strange Things

All their songs have an undercurrent of The Pixies and Pavement influence but Strange Things wears it them on its sleeve. So much so you can imagine Malkmus in the studio shouting “great guitar parts, love them, but will you please stop being so freakin’ cool with your vocals”.

5.       You’re not that cool.

Lord help whoever Warren is singing to when she says “you’re not cool / I never wanted you”. From Warren, this is the vocal equivalent of hangover induced by cider and white wine in 40 degree heat. The song itself is brilliantly moody and ethereal in the beginning before building to a My Bloody Valentine state of hypnotic guitars.

The EP is out now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!