Noveller

As Noveller, guitarist Sarah Lipstate builds textural and expansive instrumental soundscapes through loops combined with a detailed array of effects. Her prior work in film shaped the cinematic qualities found in her ambient guitar pieces. Over time Noveller moved from slow-moving drones into science-fiction-inspired compositions, later broadening beyond solo guitar on the 2017 album A Pink Sunset for No One by adding synthesizers along with rhythmic components.

While studying in Austin, Texas, from 2003 to 2006, Lipstate performed in the experimental duo One Umbrella alongside synth and electronics collaborator Carlos Villarreal. She introduced Noveller as a guitar-centered solo project in 2005 by placing tracks on several noise compilations and by self-releasing the two 3" CD-R EPs Vasovagal and Nerves and Endings. Those heavily processed guitar loops produced an icy wash of distant sounds that shifted between spare and unsettling. After relocating to the East Coast in 2007, Noveller entered live performance with an appearance at the Sonic Circuits experimental festival in Washington, D.C. Subsequent shows in the New York area led to an introduction to sound artist Carlos Giffoni, who issued the first two full-length Noveller albums, Paint on the Shadows and Red Rainbows, on his No Fun Productions label, both appearing in 2009. That same year the Canadian label Divorce issued the split LP Colourful Disturbances featuring Noveller alongside Aidan Baker.

Lipstate launched her own Saffron Recordings imprint in 2010 and released the third solo full-length Desert Fires plus a split LP with unFact. Her fourth full-length, Glacial Glow, came out jointly on Saffron and Weird Forest in May 2011. Between albums she maintained an active schedule of one-off festival appearances, frequent shows in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and tours across Europe and the U.S. She also took part in ongoing collaborations, appearing at times with Cold Cave and Parts & Labor, performing as a member of Rhys Chatham's Guitar Army and Glenn Branca's 100-guitar ensemble, and joining various duo improvisations with figures from New York City's experimental community. After the limited 2012 tour-only CD-R Artifact, the full-length No Dreams was issued in 2013 on Important Records. The collaboration Reveries with Thisquietarmy followed on Shelter Press in June 2014.

Noveller next joined Fire Records, which released the more cinematic Fantastic Planet in early 2015; the label later reissued No Dreams and Glacial Glow. Around the same period Lipstate attracted the attention of Iggy Pop, who invited Noveller to open shows and later worked with her on new material. The eighth Noveller album, A Pink Sunset for No One, appeared on Fire Records in 2017 and expanded the cinematic solo guitar approach with percussion and additional structural elements. Lipstate sustained her connection to Iggy Pop, contributing to the subdued and reflective 2019 album Free alongside trumpet player Leron Thomas. By then based in Los Angeles and serving as a guitarist in Pop's touring band, she nevertheless continued developing Noveller. The subsequent solo album Arrow arrived in June 2020, preceded by several singles that furthered Lipstate's shift from early sheets of sound toward more compositionally intricate territory.