Noveller - A Pink Sunset For No One album review

Haunting abstractions from the New York guitarist

Cover art for Noveller A Pink Sunset For No One

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Sarah Lipstate has forged quite the reputation over this past decade. Having begun with Brooklyn art rockers Parts & Labor in 2008, she’s been a member of Rhys Chatham’s celebrated guitar orchestra and has collaborated with such respected leftfield talents as Glenn Branca, Lee Ranaldo, Carla Bozulich and Jim ‘Foetus’ Thirlwell. Then there’s her other calling as an experimental filmmaker, for which she’s already collected an armful of awards.

Both of these pursuits showcase a fascination with the sensory world, further explored in her solo work under the guise of Noveller. A Pink Sunset For No One was recorded in the wake of her recent tour of the US and Europe with major fan Iggy Pop. A thoroughly engrossing thing it is too, Lipstate creating instrumental pieces that – like Robert Fripp or Bill Frisell before her – expand, modify and sharpen the remit of electric guitar. The alluring Deep Shelter is imbued with a strange ambience, as is the unhurried textural delight of Lone Victory Tonight. The Unveiling, a nimble meditation built around a melody from one of her own film scores, is terrific too. Best of all is Rituals, a tribute to Steve Reich, in particular his 70s masterstroke, Music For 18 Musicians, with an elastic central motif.

Rob Hughes

Freelance writer for Classic Rock since 2008, and sister title Prog since its inception in 2009. Regular contributor to Uncut magazine for over 20 years. Other clients include Word magazine, Record Collector, The Guardian, Sunday Times, The Telegraph and When Saturday Comes. Alongside Marc Riley, co-presenter of long-running A-Z Of David Bowie podcast. Also appears twice a week on Riley’s BBC6 radio show, rifling through old copies of the NME and Melody Maker in the Parallel Universe slot. Designed Aston Villa’s kit during a previous life as a sportswear designer. Geezer Butler told him he loved the all-black away strip.