Novella

Having shared both a flat in Brighton and an appreciation of shoegaze bands such as My Bloody Valentine and the Brian Jonestown Massacre, Hollie Warren and Suki Sou, along with their friend Linda Jarvis, formed Houdini Kill Sale. The project, however, never made it past the early stages of development and the trio soon called it quits, while Jarvis headed in her own direction to form Echo Lake. Warren and Sou then moved to London where they joined up with Sophy Hollington and formed Novella in February 2010. It wasn’t until the autumn of 2011 that the band released their debut double A-side “The Things You Do”/”Oh Brian” on Dirty Bingo Records. Produced by Rory Atwell (Male Bonding, Veronica Falls), the accomplished, '60s psychedelic-tinged sound was a result of six months of hunkering down without any live appearances. The pay-off was that the band, with the help of friend Iain Laws on drums, soon began playing with the likes of Dum Dum Girls, Veronica Falls, and Friends before releasing their self-titled EP through Italian Beach Babes in May 2012. Again produced by Atwell, Novella's sound developed further, while Hollie Warren's essentially British vocals gave their lo-fi aesthetic a sumptuously melodic backbone as they headed out of London for the first time to play with Katy Goodman's La Sera in France.