Sylvia Rose Novak’s The Window – song four of this excellent and emotionally engaging Indie Rock album – opens vistas, makes thing clear. It says a lot about Novak, where she has been, where she is right now.
The Window is a song about time, and distance: “Another quarter mile or so until we make it/ Another quarter year or so until we break/ But I’m staring out the window/ At a world that just won’t mend/ Wondering how much more I’ll force myself to take.”
Take/break are recurring words/emotions among the dense, intense and carefully-plotted lyrics – in The Window, Stress Fracture (“It feels like I’m ready to break …”), the Punkish track Howl (“I’ve taken all I can …”). The Window says so much as it makes apparent Novak’s previous Alt-Country/Americana “pigeonhole”, but now she animatedly and authentically rocks out. Dizzy is a cover (Jimmy Eat World) and, respectfully, so honestly, still an almost perfect slice of Emo.
This is a record full of variety, full of experience, a record that should convince you once and for all this singer-songwriter/bassist/producer is a talented, inspiring artist with lots to play, lots to say. If you’re something of a rebel in a melancholy mood, trying to be yourself, yearning to find true passions, A Miss/ A Masterpiece has much to offer. You’re also in the right place if you just want to take Rush, Rainbow or Pavlov’s Dog off the turntable for a change, switch it up and open a bottle.
Opening song Fallout recalls Foo Fighters and boasts a splendid riff, launching this declaration of independence, new statement of intent – not Americana but heavy rock banger. Sylvia, born and raised in Opelika, Alabama, is entirely convincing and engaging, voice on top form, wide-ranging. She picks up a violin on the afore-mentioned The Window, a beautifully performed number that openly addresses previous troubles with addiction: “Do I take these things to rend me/ Or remind me?/ To pick me up/ Or put me in a hole?”
Other highlights include the simmering, thought-provoking Rage, the powerful, elegiac Man I Used To Be, and stand-out To Ten (feel free to turn it up to 11). There are shades of Athens lads REM on Uncanny Valley. Closing track Fight (written by guitarist Kelen J Rylee) finds Sylvia dominating the centre of the ring in the 10th round, still swinging, well ahead on this judge’s cards. In the end? A knock-out.
A Miss/ A Masterpiece, by Sylvia Rose Novak, is out on Friday (May 20)