Ali Lacey, aka Novo Amor, is 25 and already nostalgic enough to make Springsteen look like he’s living in the moment. His Bathing Beach EP and single “Carry You” are drenched in the kind of romantic ache usually reserved for people who’ve just been told they can’t go home again — because in his case, he can’t. “It’s kind of an expression of nostalgia,” he says, “a nod to a certain period of time.” That period was a nine-week stretch in 2011 upstate New York that turned his life sideways. “It was the first time I’d been anywhere like that on my own. New friends, new experiences… when I came home, things just felt different. Most of my songs are about that time. I kinda need to find something else to write about, really.”
If Lacey sounds self-aware about milking the same well of inspiration, he’s also unbothered. He’s busy making those memories sound prettier than they probably were, thanks to his first foray into string arrangements. “Why haven’t I done this before?” he remembers thinking. A former film-scoring obsessive who once ripped trailers off YouTube to rebuild them with virtual orchestras, Lacey finally brought a friend into the room, set up some mics, and went for it. “It’s just a new way to release things and keep it exciting for me. So far everything’s been me on my own, and that was cathartic for a while, but not necessarily anymore.”
That desire for company explains why his own debut is currently benched in favor of a full collaborative album with Ed Tullett. “He’s the perfect person to be around,” Lacey says. “All music. Doesn’t care about going out with friends or drinking or anything like that. We’ve had the same ideas of what we want to create.” They’ve been writing together for years, layering and reworking songs in a way that’s alien to Novo Amor’s usual method. “My music is me wanting to express something and laying it down; it doesn’t change much. With Ed, songs have changed quite a lot over time — like Kanye albums, always changing.”
This all means his catalog is currently more scattered than stacked. The man has been a singles act, partly by design and partly because he’s a perfectionist with no external deadline. “In the last year I’ve probably made an album and a half’s worth of stuff that just hasn’t been used. It’s frustrating. It makes me feel like I’ve got constant writer’s block,” he says. But he likes the simplicity of dropping one song at a time, seeing how it lands, and keeping his batting average high. “I’d rather put out one good song than three or four mediocre ones. I’m hoping when I do an album it’s ten great songs and no filler.”
Bathing Beach is at least a step toward that, weaving in earlier singles like “Anchor” and closing with “Embody Me,” which leans into the lush romantic strings he’s newly smitten with. There’s still “a bit of bleakness in the lyrics” — Novo Amor’s default setting — but also signs of a broader production palette. And if the Ed Tullett album dips more into alternative rock and rhythmic experimentation, all the better. “It’s nice to have an outlet for another style. There’s even a song with five different parts and three time signatures.”
He laughs about the logistical weirdness of releasing a full album that isn’t technically his debut. “I don’t want it to be seen as my debut. I don’t know what’s going to happen — my booking agent’s still figuring out how we’re going to tour it.” It’s the kind of problem that comes from having too much music, too many collaborators, and too many memories fighting to be scored. Which, for a songwriter who once thought he’d be soundtracking other people’s movies, sounds like a pretty good plot twist.
Listen to the interview above and check out the single, "Carry You," below.
