SYLVAINE — Nova (review)

Album · 2022 · Atmospheric Black Metal

3.5/5 · 2022-03-14
siLLy puPPy

Kathrine Elizabeth Shepard better known by her stage name SYLVAINE has spent the last decade utilizing her skills as a classically trained multi-instrument to craft her unique mix of post-rock, shoegaze and black metal which showcases not only her instrumental talents but her siren-like vocal deliveries and best of all an uncanny ability to craft dreamy soundscapes that sign a truce with their caustic kin of angsty black metal shoegaze = blackgaze in a way unlike any other.

SYLVAINE is back with her 4th full album NOVA which once again features her as the solo performer with the assistance of Dorian Mansiaux as a session drummer and a competent violinist and cellist. Each album has subsequently found SYLVAINE adding more elements of ferociously fueled black metal in the company of her established dream pop fueled post-rock and one listen to her newest release NOVA will make you consider if the ethereal darkwave Dead Can Dance has suddenly added black metal to its neverending recipe.

Existing somewhere between the world of dreamy world of ethereal wave and the more caustic nature of blackgaze, SYLVAINE has crafted a unique niche that captures the essence of all the aforementioned musical genres and deftly merges them into a unifying force which is what makes NOVA such a divine musical experience that features SYLVAINE alternating between heavenly diva mode to raging raspy nastiness and at key moments providing the heaven and hell call and response dualities which give this album a bizarre one-woman beauty and beast effect.

The metal-free opening title track sets the tone of the album which relies more on a stellar layering effect of the production values which allows the dream pop characteristics of the strong melodies to capture your soul while SYLVAINE’s angelic lyrical delivers melt your soul but as the second track “Mono No Aware” suddenly breaks into the more orotund heavy riffing of black metal, the album takes a complete 180 as the two tracks are seemingly from two completely separate artists. The beauty of NOVA is how from this point on the two disparate stylistic approaches slowly begin to integrate.

Overall NOVA is more of an ethereal wave / post-rock album than a black metal one as the bombastic metal moments are reserved for contrast while the dreamy atmospheric lushness dominates the album’s running time of nearly 50 minutes. Whether you consider this music a form of dark neofolk, dream pop, neoclassical darkwave or post-blackgaze dream folk isn’t really relevant. When all is said and done, SYLVAINE has a unique way of throwing all these styles in a blender and making them her own even when recalling the works of Myrkur, Lisa Gerard or other similarly minded artists.

I guess what’s missing from this album is a more dynamic array of vocal styles. True SYLVAINE has mastered those angelic dreamy sequences and even has the chops for those raspy black metal attacks but other than those two comfort zones there isn’t much variation. NOVA is either set to arpeggiated clean guitar mode with swarms of ethereal counterpoints or black metal angst. While the two merge from time to time, the emphasis is on ethereal astral travel beyond the confines of Earthly limitations. While the black metal aspects are a welcome breaking of the mediative spell, they would be more effective if they were left off the leash a bit more as the album begins to start feeling a bit samey towards the end. Any way you slice it, SYLVAINE is a formidable talent who continues to show growth and maturity so keep your eyes on this talent.