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January 13, 2007 @ The Rutledge—NOVELIFT The group Novelift is composed of four guys whose names have apparently not been released. The group's website, demo CD, and myspace page blatantly ignore any sort of bio or mention of who plays what. The Singer is the focal point, positioning himself at center-stage sitting at his keyboard. The keyboard squarely faces stage-left or right (depending upon his preference for the night), and so singerman never faces the audience. The audience views singerman in profile throughout Novelift's entire performance. Novelift's sound is heavily weighted by the singer's vocals, which are piercingly beautiful yet haunting and sad. Think of a very suicidal Freddie Mercury, gathering up his last remaining ounces of energy (before death) in order to deliver quivering wails of pain in a soprano more haunting than Gorecki's 3rd Symphony. Indeed, between songs, singerman appeared so apathetic that he could barely communicate to his audience. His vocals, however, are impressive to say the least. Introducing one song Singerman mumbled,"This song is called, (long pause, and finally as if he hadn't enough energy to remember) something." Novelift then delivered a powerful, gut-wrenching, goth-influenced song that recalled the best of Trent Rezner combined with touches of Pink Floyd's trippy Dark Side of the Moon. The latter is in fact how I would describe the sound of Novelift in a live performance. Singerman's keyboard has the tone of a creepy circus piano, and his vocals are some of the best soprano I've heard outside the Schermerhorn. With more touring and a smartly produced studio effort, Novelift could easily become the Nine Inch Nails of the 2000's.
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