Sylvaine – Nova (Review)

This is the fourth album from Norwegian blackgaze/post-metal one-woman act Sylvaine.

Nova is a highly atmospheric journey. If you’re a fan of the shoegaze/blackgaze genres, then this is for you. The promo blurb states that this is for fans of bands such as Alcest, Deafheaven, Harakiri for the Sky, and Emma Ruth Rundle, and it’s hard to argue with that.

The music is epic and rich, delivering a tapestry of sound and feeling across a selection of exquisite tracks. The songs are beautiful and ethereal, with an otherworldly feel as if they have been wrought from slabs of pure emotion. The mix of blackened styles, (atmospheric, depressive, post-), are tastefully incorporated into the music’s shoegaze core, and then augmented with post-rock depth. This combination varies from track to track, but is airways judged just right, offering a sea of resplendence to drown in as the songs swamp you with their oceans of emotive waters.

The artist’s clean singing is beautiful and captivating, and her performance is faultless and charged with emotion. Also appearing here and there are her screams, which are high-pitched and near-unhinged, delivered in a depressive black metal style.

Nova unfolds from one track to the next, sweeping the listener away in waves of sound. Sometimes delicate and fragile, sometimes filled with fury, always brimming with emotion, Nova is a superlative experience for lovers of expressive music.

Very highly recommended.