Biography
A versatile Welsh multi-instrumentalist who also sings, writes songs, designs sound, and produces, Novo Amor crafts a wistful fusion of indie pop and folk that calls to mind Bon Iver, the Gentle Good, Iron & Wine, and Colorama. Almost immediate acclaim greeted his first EP in 2014, after which a steady output of singles, further EPs, joint projects, and three well-regarded albums—Cannot Be, Whatsoever (2020), Antarctican Dream Machine (2022), and Collapse List (2024)—broadened his reach.
Ali John Meredith-Lacey was born in the Welsh town of Llanidloes and later settled in Cardiff, adopting the Portuguese phrase Novo Amor as his working name. His first release, the independently issued 2012 single “So We Drift/Flay,” paved the way for breakthrough success with the 2014 EP Woodgate, NY on the Norwegian label Brilliance Records. Around the same time he began a continuing partnership with English indie electronic folk artist Ed Tullett, inaugurated by the track “Faux.” An atmospheric 2015 rendition of Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle” gained notice after appearing in an Axe/Lynx commercial, and several favorably received singles—one of them another Tullett collaboration—led to the May 2017 EP Bathing Beach. That November saw the full-length Heiress with Tullett, followed in 2018 by Lacey’s first solo album, Birthplace, issued on the AllPoints label. His collaborative impulse resurfaced in two 2019 singles made with American singer/songwriter Gia Margaret, whom he also joined on tour. In mid-2020 he unveiled the reflective singles “Opaline” and “Keep Me” ahead of Cannot Be, Whatsoever, which appeared that November. Two years later came the ambient instrumental collection Antarctican Dream Machine, drawn from his voyage to Antarctica aboard the Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise. The piano ballad “Same Day, Same Face” heralded Novo Amor’s subsequent album, 2024’s Collapse List.
Ali John Meredith-Lacey was born in the Welsh town of Llanidloes and later settled in Cardiff, adopting the Portuguese phrase Novo Amor as his working name. His first release, the independently issued 2012 single “So We Drift/Flay,” paved the way for breakthrough success with the 2014 EP Woodgate, NY on the Norwegian label Brilliance Records. Around the same time he began a continuing partnership with English indie electronic folk artist Ed Tullett, inaugurated by the track “Faux.” An atmospheric 2015 rendition of Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle” gained notice after appearing in an Axe/Lynx commercial, and several favorably received singles—one of them another Tullett collaboration—led to the May 2017 EP Bathing Beach. That November saw the full-length Heiress with Tullett, followed in 2018 by Lacey’s first solo album, Birthplace, issued on the AllPoints label. His collaborative impulse resurfaced in two 2019 singles made with American singer/songwriter Gia Margaret, whom he also joined on tour. In mid-2020 he unveiled the reflective singles “Opaline” and “Keep Me” ahead of Cannot Be, Whatsoever, which appeared that November. Two years later came the ambient instrumental collection Antarctican Dream Machine, drawn from his voyage to Antarctica aboard the Greenpeace vessel Arctic Sunrise. The piano ballad “Same Day, Same Face” heralded Novo Amor’s subsequent album, 2024’s Collapse List.