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 its 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 psychedelia-tinged sound was a result of six months of hunkering down without any live appearances. The payoff was that Novella, 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, Atwell-produced EP through Italian Beach Babes in May 2012. They did set off for spells of touring after the EP's release, notably visiting France with La Sera, and also released the four-song Murmurs cassette in October of 2013.nn For the recording of their first album, the bandmembers decamped to an East London studio that was formerly a clothing factory to spend a chilly January week laying down tracks with producers Joshua Third (the Horrors) and Jonas Verwijnen (Moon Duo). The band spent the rest of the year playing shows, working on side projects, and adding a keyboardist (Isabel Spurgeon). The long-awaited Land album finally saw the light of day in May of 2015 on Sinderlyn Records. After the album's release, the band embarked on a U.K. tour with Cheatahs, then in early 2016 headed to Europe for a month's worth of shows. Before starting work on their next album, keyboardist Spurgeon left the band to form JC Flowers. The remaining quartet headed to James Hoare's (Veronica Falls, Ultimate Painting) home studio, where they laid down tracks on an eight-track tape machine. The resulting album was released by Sinderlyn in early 2017. ~ Daniel Clancy