By: Dave Allan Guzda
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Released on January 26, 2015 via Fire Records
Noveller (Sarah Lipstate) has developed a name for herself as a respected solo instrumentalist known for creating richly textured and experimental soundscapes. When not perusing her various Noveller commitments, Lipstate also scores films. The essence of how music sets a mood and gradually unfolds within films is apparent throughout Noveller’s material. Lipstate has a solid musical catalog and Fantastic Planet showcases her continued voyage into solo guitar-centric music. The songs feel like individual trips into distant celestial spaces as long waves of droning guitar wash against subtle tides of rising and falling sounds. There are no words, no choruses; simply streams of shimmering sonic textures that implore your mind to drift along and disconnect for a few minutes. I read the phrase “alien surf” used to describe Noveller. I’d update it to “theatrical alien surf” which is more akin to 2001: A Space Odyssey and not Alien.
Fantastic Planet opens with “Into the Dunes” which sets a somber tone with lonely bass notes dropping behind a gently unraveling tense guitar hum. The hum leads into a harsh straining wall of sounds which exude an increasingly tangible weight. The track feels like a perfect fit within a climactic film sequence where the main plotline comes to a dramatic, possibly ominous, ending. By contract, the next song entitled “No Unholy Mountain” has a completely different vibe. “Unholy” shimmers with soft magical melodies that peek and hide within tranquilly wafting tones. Noveller’s work has been described as “cold“, “sparse” and “airy” in the past. Fantastic Planet continues to have plenty of “airy” and “sparse” passages and some tracks dwell within the “cold” realms of space but there are certainly moments of warmth has well throughout the album. The playful melody that opens “Sisters”, the comfortable glow that radiates from the closing of “Concrete Dreams” and the optimistic energy from “The Ascent” are all painted with warm sonic hues.
The seven minute “Pulse Point” is quite a striking track. It opens with bubbling tumultuous noise that develops into a pulsating clanking beat that industrial artists would be envious of. Lipstate cloaks the spooky atmospherics in a dense cloak of theatrical guitar drone that explores with long dark reaching notes and glittering tonal textures. When listening to Noveller it is easy to lose the fact that one person is behind all the music which is remarkable. That said, I occasionally noticed the sparseness of the music. I liked the track “Rubicon”, the melody was engaging but as I was listening I kept waiting (hoping?) for drums to kick in or a groovy bassline to accompany Lipstate’s gorgeous soundscapes.
This isn’t something to rock out to. It’s an album to savour by closing out the world and allowing yourself to be immersed within its rich bouquet of guitar textures and diverse aural emotions. The album traverses alluring and expansive soundscapes with a deluge of emotive and colourful guitar. The vibrant drone and soothing composition make Fantastic Planet a destination your mind will return to again and again.
