Ears Wide Open: Clara-Nova

Kevin Bronson on November 19th, 2013

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French-American songwriter Sydney Wayser grew up in Los Angeles, summered in Paris and, until early this year, was stationed in New York, where she wrestled with a bleak winter and which direction her music would take after releasing solo albums in 2007 and ’09. Her late-2012 dispatch, “Bell Choir Coast,” addressed the latter dilemma. As for geography, she has moved back home to L.A. and adopted the band name Clara-Nova. “Bell Choir Coast” is a collection of smart, bright indie-pop with clattering orchestration, its calling card being Wayser’s lithe vocals (which have been in fine form at Clara-Nova’s current residency at the Bootleg). It’s easy to imagine an L.A. native cooped up in a New York apartment writing “Dream It Up” – “I’m dreaming of mountains and paradise / with oceans and beaches and sunny skies” – and now that those visions are within her grasp, it’ll be interesting to see where Clara-Nova goes.

||| Stream: “Atlas” and “Potions”