Review Summary: Desert Fires will leave you with a warm feeling inside.
Noveller is a one-woman project specializing in ambient drone. Her earlier compositions were considerably harsher but she eventually progressed into a more relaxing sound, completing the transition with “Desert Fires.” She creates most of her music utilizing a guitar and an arsenal of effect pedals. Drone, being in its early stages of development, is a largely experimental genre, which means that we should all be watching this scene because the richest music is always crafted before the boundaries of a genre are established and hundreds of clones are created.
Sarah Lipstate does everything she can to push the limits of her instrument and there are moments where one might wonder how she got a certain noise out of her guitar. She uses these sounds to create a serene atmosphere with a small amount of rumbling pulsation underneath the calm tunes, unlike on her previous album which was almost constantly unsettling, yet beautiful and trance-inducing at the same time. “Desert Fires” maintains some of this but it is a much softer affair, seemingly influenced by a bit of post-rock this time around. The airy guitar work and the colorful album art create imagery of a lush oasis in the middle of a desert as you become lost in the tranquil ambience. When the rough undertone emerges, dark clouds begin to form over your private oasis and it causes you to become slightly uneasy. “Desert Fires” contains a plethora of moods but conveys positive feelings for the most part, only becoming somewhat melancholy here and there.
The most amazing thing about her work is that she manages to create a whole album using one instrument without getting repetitive. No vocals, no drums, just her guitar (with few exceptions, such as the bass guitar on the first track). “Desert Fires” does contain a flaw that keeps it from being much better than it is; sometimes the music doesn’t flow as well as it should because of occasional awkward transitioning and meandering.
When it comes together and flows properly, the music is sublime. I'm no expert on drone, but Lipstate is probably the most promising artist in the genre right now, and it seems as if she only needs a little more time to hone her skills before we see a classic coming from Noveller.
