Posts Tagged ‘Cannot Be Whatsoever’

NOVO AMOR – ” Cannot Be Whatsoever “

Posted: November 14, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Ali John Meredith-Lacey, better known under the moniker Novo Amor, is a Welsh multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, sound designer and producer. The past three years have been a burst of creativity from Aberystwyth-born singer/songwriter Novo Amor (AKA Ali Lacey). In 2017, he dropped debut album ‘Heiress’ which first introduced us to his unique pop/folk infusion followed a year late by second record ‘Birthplace’ – and now he drops stunning third instalment ‘Cannot Be, Whatsoever’.  

Bright yet contemplative, Lacey describes his latest LP as “a shift towards the light” across the ten tracks which he self-produced. The optimism shines through as he deeply reflects upon the most important moments in his life and their meaning. When Ali Lacey was 20 years old, he had his heart broken. “As clichéd as it sounds, I wrote love songs about the whole situation,” he recalls. “You’re in those formative years when everything just feels more emotionally charged. But looking back, I kind of cringe about the way I acted.” He grimaces. “I was writing the songs as soon as things happened and then I would send them to her. Argh, I wish I didn’t. The lyrics are just so obvious.

Novo Amor will be playing headline dates during Spring 2021 to show off his new material, Official video for ‘I Feel Better’ by Novo Amor Lifted from the album ‘Cannot Be, Whatsoever’, out now.

“Whether it’s the reminder that aloneness isn’t singular or a simplistic jolt of motivation that is far from cheesy, Novo Amor delivers an album with complexity and subtlety all at once. At a time when chaos and pain seem next to impossible to look away from, Novo Amor gently reminds us of all the possibilities and ways of being true.” – Clash

Released: 6th November

NOVO AMOR – ” Cannot Be, Whatsoever “

Posted: October 29, 2020 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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“Cannot Be, Whatsoever” is Aberystwyth-born Ali Laceys second self-produced studio album as Novo Amor. With its beautifully crafted 10 tracks, it continues his fascinating story where his debut of 2018 , Birthplace, left off.
The process began with the albums second track I Feel Better the writing of which set Lacey on an optimistic path. Although not an album devoid of solemn moments, Cannot Be, Whatsoever is loaded with thoughtful reflection and re-discovery, and as a result its both poignant and uplifting. In Laceys own words, this new music is a shift towards the light which is perfectly introduced by Opaline today containing its own fulfilling lyric Now I feel like I’m finally me.

Yesterday saw the release of Novo Amor’s second single ‘Opaline’, which is taken from his upcoming second album ‘Cannot Be, Whatsoever’. Not only did we get a beautiful new single, but we got the first video of the campaign so far too – a cinematic stunner that was shot in the Australian outback, directed by Stefan Hunt and will have all you oldies longing for one more shot at youth.

My new single ‘I Feel Better’ is out now. I felt an incredible rush of joy and direction when I initially wrote the piano and chorus melody. At the time it felt like this song would define the album, which hadn’t been written yet. I thought it would set the tone for a more positive and joyous step forward, but months down the line the record grew this backbone of indecision, jumping from feelings of self-affirmation to self-pity, from joy and celebration to feelings of boredom and anxiety. It’s not something I really wanted, but those feelings naturally manifested themselves within what I was creating. I think that spectrum of emotion appropriately mirrors how it feels to make an album, at least for me anyway. It’s a mess and can cause a lot of grief. It gives you life, then drags it back out of you. It gives you happiness, the best days, the worst days, and makes you question your purpose and abilities. These words feel unnecessarily dramatic when describing nine months of just making music, but hey, that’s how it feels.

By the end of the album recording, the song felt like an outlier, another one of these ideas that didn’t really need to be heard. I’d worked on it too much. It felt like I was making it worse with every day of recording. It felt like the album had shifted too far away from this uplifting piano line that I’d gotten excited about months before. So, I was ready to throw it away until my friend and collaborator Ed Tullett stopped me. He gave me encouragement to at least see it though and try to make something we could be happy with. I think he (thankfully) saw more importance in this song being on the album than I did. Like most of the other tracks on the record, we worked on it together and it’s a much better record because of it. The song, while still feeling like a bit of an outlier, actually came to represent so much of what this record is for me, this range of emotion and indecision, the building up and tearing down of ideas, this clash of happiness and sadness and affirmation from others. As the song sings – “just tell me that it’s alright and I’ll be fine”.

From the album ‘Cannot Be, Whatsoever’, released November 6th 2020