Artist Close-Up: The Novel Ideas Put Massachusetts In Their Music Melodies
The Novel Ideas are a country-folk quartet of friends hailing from the great state of Massachusetts, and in their self-titled record you feel the power of this statement. The green beauty of Massachusetts wisps by you like a scenic route from a car as each string is played to make you drive down the happier side of the road. For The Novel Ideas, friendship and creativity are the foundation of love and thus music.
Featuring three songwriters, Sarah Grella, Danny Hoshino, and James Parkington interchange in lead vocals with each giving their earthy sense to country-folk jams. Balancing the idea of love and loss like two contrasting energies sealed in a permanent bond may sound like too intricate a notion to approach. Yet, what life has not countered the clashing and embittered taste of love’s sweet nectar as it soured away from your bite. In tracks like, “I’m Not Waiting”, “Dena”, and “I Was Not Around”, The Novel ideas approach the nuances of love’s entrance and exiting of life. People come and go into your world for so many reasons, from boredom to bliss, and The Novel Ideas approach each with arrangements that balance delicacy with exhilaration. It is as if they realized that winding, beautiful melodies can be as riveting and adrenaline inducing as a trap-beat or a synth-wave. Their refreshing, acoustic stylings amp up the humbling of their lyrics. After all, love can turn the loudest roar into a whimper because a broken heart has a hard time pumping a voice. Yes, I know that hearts pump blood, but, spiritually, they pump your voice, which is why, when Sarah, Danny, and James harmonize, you feel your voice pumping forward.
It is strange to say that three very different voices sound so alike. Each singer seems to have an inherent measuring cup for fragility and firmness. All their voices come off like a willow tree with broken branches; although strong, you cannot help but see their emotional frailty. In true country-folk fashion, they sing their tracks like tales for the broken-hearted, which means there is a sense of pushing forward to each lyric. No matter what sadness of “Broken Glass”, “Calling You Out”, or “Lost On The Road”, they pick up the notes and broken pieces as if to say the show must go on. Thus, I fully expect The Novel Ideas to powerful rise in the country-folk world. When you, like them, have mastered humility in harmony and perseverance in lyric, you have something special, which is undeniable. For More Information On The Novel Ideas Click Here.
