With tags like ‘Leaving Me’, ‘Beautiful Lies’ and ‘Fallen Ones’, you’d be forgiven for thinking the course of true love wasn’t running smooth Chez Novelli. However, it’s not the headlines that count here … but the between-the-lines implications of her songs. With a finely crafted subtlety, she goes beyond their titles to tell matters-of-the-heart tales infinitely more nuanced.
With the final action of her second 2023 EP, she clarifies those complexities: ‘I’m Not Sad‘ truly says it all!
While the EP’s tracks had subtext, their overarching theme couldn’t be clearer – and more original. Their all-female, all-duet composition is something all but unheard of within electronic music. After recent songwriting link-ups with Sarah de Warren, Bo Bruce and Linney, she wraps that run up with a Reigns teaming.
Having already lent voice to Carl Cox, Benny Benassi, Low Steppa and Disco Fries’ productions, UK vocalist Reigns comes to ‘When My Angel Sleeps’ with plenty of shared credit pedigree. This however is the first time she’s co-owned mic-&-song with another singer.
Chiming with ‘I’m Not Sad’s emphatic statement, ‘When My Angel Sleeps’ is a masterstroke of emotional elevation. With its irresistible, irrepressible riff detectably sharing some musical DNA with another of Christina’s ‘Angels’, it’s a masterful last flourish to Novelli’s most accomplished EP to date. You can stream the ‘I’m Not Sad’ EP in full here.
