Ones2Watch Home

Photo by Oliver Leone

Listening to Dallas, TX-based singer-songwriter Novulent’s (they/them) music is like getting sucked into a vacuum cleaner. Through blurry guitars and supplemental instrumentation, a mix of melancholic and muddy vocals, and songwriting that reflects both the earnestness and susceptibility of a young adult heart, Novulent captures the essence of intense attachment, heartbreak, and ultimately finding and bettering oneself in the wake of a prolific relationship.

Feeding off the musical energy of early 2hollis, mehro, Trippie Redd, quannnic, and Wisp, among other evident influences from the 90's and beyond, Novulent shares these stories of the struggles of young adulthood across sinister yet enthralling tracks such as “can time heal all wounds,” “evil eye,” fix you,” boys lie and girls steal,” among others.

Though certainly still laced with the bitter, confounding feelings of internal reflection, these songs offer a profound shift in both emotional maturity and overall sonic quality from Novulent’s early work. Musical expansion in the form of recurring piano motifs and shoegaze-like guitar movements are strategically placed throughout the project, providing additional context of Novulent’s desire for the record to ebb and flow between sections as if it were a feature film.  

Throughout this interview, a Zoom chat amid bitter cold spells in both New York AND Texas, Novulent repeatedly referenced tracks like “new low” and “peering thought” as focal points of the project, both aesthetically and thematically. The latter track serves as the ‘opening act’ of the film-like experiment, while the former set the tone for the lyrical approach, seeking refuge in finding the story without embellishment.

Vocally, their delivery is often contained, even regulated, as they sing from a place of acceptance, not of anger. While they occasionally rise to that of a belt, Novulent typically resides in their lower baritone register, giving the listener the sense that an explosion may come, though it never does. Storytelling takes precedent, whether or not the lyrics are substantial. Often, they are not, as Novulent carefully wrestled with what they would CHOOSE to say rather than spew nonessential words on a page. 

The project concludes with “the world ends with you,” Novulent’s most vocally expressive track since that of VOL.1’s “enchanting.” Their words, a final declaration of infatuation, are sung with a reverence and a contentment fitting for a penultimate moment. We spoke of the intentionality of the track, and others, throughout this conversation, as well as their view of their place within an often-stigmatized modern musical landscape.

OnesToWatch: You’ve said that this album is, “piece by piece, the emotional journey that love can take you on.” What’s different about this phase of the journey versus previous phases of your romantic life that you have personified for other projects?

Novulent: The main difference would have to be my reactions to the situations. What I do in the moment, and what I do AFTER with new partners. I started making music around when I was 17, and the mentality I had at 17 is way different from my mentality now at 21. When it came to me being a teenager, I went the typical teenage route of like, “Oh grrrrrrr, I had my heart broken once so now everyone is out to get me.” I had this very self-depressive mindset of thinking, “What’s the point when you’re just going to get hurt anyway?” It was a paranoid teenage angst. Compared to now, I understand myself a lot more. I understand how to regulate my emotions. 

With this being VOL. 3, what’s the biggest difference as far as the sonic palette compared to the last two projects? 

It would have to be the storytelling. I know that with VOL. 3, I really paint a story. Listening from track one to thirteen, it’s like each song is its own chapter perfectly transitioning from one to the next. VOL. 1 was a little all over the place. Whenever something bad would happen, I would make a song out of it. It was a collection of my thoughts being 18, which fit with the cartoonish adventures you have when you’re a teenager, so it fits. VOL. 3 is way more put together and cohesive. 

Do you feel the access and dramatic nature of the art of anime have any correlation with the intensity of your writing?

Oh yeah, definitely. I’ve always been very into animated media, video games, and cartoons. One of the open secrets of that kind of art form is that you have to overexaggerate. Things that are way too literal are boring, because you can go outside and experience those types of things. Characters have to overreact. Voice actors, even if its corny, have to be very expressive to fit the whole idea. Your imagination will do the rest and cement how powerful certain scenes, lines, and arcs are. I end up doing the same thing with my singing. Not in a conventional way, but when I’m recording, mixing, and mastering, it adds that edge, that punch, that really makes you feel it. 

How do you go about producing your vocals, which tend to stay in a relatively low range, to stand out, yet still be sort of understated, against busy instrumentals?

My style is a mixture of the two in the sense that I see my voice as not necessarily just a voice, but as an instrument. Just as much as the actual instruments are in the background. How all the layered guitars perfectly sandwich each other to make that room of noise, my vocals are the striking part of it. After being in orchestras for so long and seeing how instruments sandwich each other, yet do something different to distinguish it as a main melody, I apply that same type of mentality to my vocals. I make it fit, but not so that it’s too distracting from the track itself. 

For a song like “the world ends with you,” and other songs that feature piano motifs or added guitar sections, do you go into their development with that orchestra mentality? 

For slower songs like that, that’s when I change my mentality a bit. I make my vocals stand out way more, and, for the words that I choose to sing, I make them, again, more striking. In “molly and sex,” my vocals stand out a lot more compared to other tracks like “new low.” Even though the guitars in “molly and sex” are very smooth and calming, the idea of having low vocals in it just didn’t make sense. For slower tracks, you want to make the vocals and the melody stand out. The background noise is just the cherry on top. 

Even if a song can extend to three to four minutes in length, how long does the writing of a song like “new low,” that is lyrically sparse, take? 

Surprisingly, even though songs like “new low” aren’t very lyric heavy, it still takes around the same time as tracks that ARE more lyric focused. It’s not in the sense of, “There’s less lyrics, so it takes less time,” there are just other things to think about. It’s the tone of voice. What lyrics DO I sing in the limited amount of time that I have? What’s the melody? A lot of people really, REALLY like “new low,” which I was surprised by, compared to “rip,” which is very lyric focused. Those two songs show the difference. For “rip,” the melody isn’t in my mind. I think more about how to tell the story properly without being too wordy. For “new low,” it’s about finding the words that stand out without saying too much. 

Does the same go for your tracks? 

I work with people for the tracks that I sing over, and, honestly, that is the hardest part. My band will send me tracks that they’ve been working on and ask me what I think about the final product. Even though we worked on it together, when I listen to the final product, sometimes I can be like, ‘Nawwwww, I don’t like it.’ Sometimes, my band will make something and it will click instantly. Other times, it can takes weeks, months, to come up with one. Making “new low” was during the process of an album that I scrapped called evolution, because I didn’t like the direction, and because of the music my peers were making. I was like, ‘Their stuff is way better. I have to start from scratch.’ “new low” took a while, because I needed the spark, the direction, of what VOL. 3 would end up being. 

Are there any lyrics you wrote for this project that shocked you? 

From “the world ends with you” and “fix you,” but especially on “fix you.” At the beginning of the track, I said, “Is it true? Am I finally over you? But then she tells me, ‘You saved my life. Can you be my hero? I won ‘t disappoint you this time. I know I took you for granted, but I miss what’s mine. And I’ll fall for it every time, like a moth to a flame, I’ll be your hero.” When I made that, everything flowed in at once. “fix you” is a back-and-forth exchange between me and this mystery person. I’m sure you can tell from how the dialogue changes that it’s from different perspectives. I really like ‘moth to the flame’ lyric because moths are attracted to light, and fire is light, but it burns you when it touches you. Just like being with this particular person and falling for their manipulation, knowing that it will hurt me, I’m still going to go anyway.

Did you immediately know that that lyric was good enough to be put into a song? 

Immediately. I don’t have a sheet of lyrics that I pick and choose from, I’ll just listen to a track, and if I enjoy it and vibe with it, make a melody on the spot, or have a proof of concept that I CAN work with it, I’ll instantly do it. Those lyrics were on the fly. It just came out as I was singing.

Since you’re looking at this project from a feature film perspective, what songs do you think are the most transitional? 

“peering thoughts” is the intro that paints the entire picture. It summarizes the entire album in that one song, and every song after just gives the details. I want the whole album to be good, but that song will be appreciated by the people who really sit down and listen to my lyrics. 

“sweet revenge” is also one of those transitional moments… 

I’m so glad you pointed that out. I wanted to show that song off SO bad, and I considered having it be a lead single, but I knew I wanted to gatekeep it for the album. It’s a whole different vibe, but it fits the whole narrative of the story. When I was recording that one, it took me a couple of hours. The lyrics and melody flowed so easy. I have a couple of other songs in the same style, and they WERE going to be on the album, but “sweet revenge” is definitely the best, and I didn’t want to water down that moment. It’s one of those songs that you are going to completely fall in love with. 

You’ve said you don’t have an issue with being called a ‘shoegaze’ artist, but do you think that labeling yourself as more of a ‘rock’ artist would put you in a lane that is more accessible to the general public? 

Of course. I see why people say I’m a shoegaze artist, since I’m pretty open about my favorite band of all time being Whir. If you’ve never heard of me, you hear “new low,” or a lot of tracks from VOL. 2, like “soul ties” or “molly and sex,” that have shoegaze motifs, you would think it’s a shoegaze artist until you dive deeper into my discography. “scars” is not shoegaze, “sweet revenge” is nowhere near shoegaze. It’s very polarizing to some people. With how conservative the shoegaze genre is, is like, ‘Hell no, this is NOT it.’ Shoegaze is embedded into my style, and I always take motifs from the genre to use in my music. But, yeah, alternative or rock would describe me a lot better and create different expectations for people listening. 

Since you’ve covering this grand, sweeping story of love on this project, how do you progress artistically going forward? 

Music never ends. Not until I can’t sing anymore. I have these earlier albums called My Story 1 and My Story 2 that were definitely more raunchy and edgy on the shoegaze side of things. When it came to those albums, even if they’re not ‘volumes,’ like a coming-of-age movie, those are like diaries. I have a song I’ve been working on called “fairytale,” which is about a conversation between my mom and I. That has nothing to do with discovering myself, so, right now, I’m writing about more mature topics, but that still fit in line with the Novulent image and aesthetic. At the same time, I’m not abandoning what made me ME, or what fans should expect out of me.

Listen to VOL.3 below: