NOVACUB’s Louise Bartle tributes ‘This Is Forever’ to her love

The emergence of NOVACUB has sure been a wild ride… one that starts with Bloc Party. Yeah, that very same Bloc Party who gave us the house-party anthem of our mid-00s dreams, ‘Silent Alarm’. A few years ago, two of the band’s members, Louise Bartle and Russell Lissack, decided to set up a little side project, one that was later joined by Venezuelan drummer Tony Alda (Los Amigos Invisibles, Los Mesoneros) and Welsh bassist / harpist Iona Thomas (Neneh Cherry, Laura Mvula). You’re probably thinking that’s where this journey ends, but then you’d be wrong. From last year, NOVACUB became the solo project of Bartle, one that’s honing in on her personal style and intimate world.

The latest in her series of escapist indie-pop is ‘This Is Forever’, featuring close collaborator Lissack. It opens with a heavily reverberated guitar, soaked in slacker-pop romanticism. From there we’re led into this relaxed indie-pop track with flourishes of uplifting electronica and engaging, but not overly produced, vocals. After being further initiated into this feel-good gem with a jolt of jovial beats, we find ourselves gleefully listening to the chorus with it temptingly repeatable line, “I wanna spend my whole life with you!” This lyric might be a cliché, but it’s one worth celebrating. NOVACUB encourages us to reiterate this sentiment to the significant other in your life, whether that be a partner, friend, or relative. We should want to reaffirm our love at every moment possible.

‘This Is Forver’ takes those well-worn indie and slacker pop motifs and imbues them with a refreshed wholesomeness that we sincerely need more of this year.

In closing, we have a heartwarming message from Louise Bartle: “This is a love song about my girlfriend. It’s the only track that isn’t anxious. I tend to fear that my relationship will go down the drain because they always have done! Most of the songs on this EP are love songs but they all contain my big worries in the relationship, so if you notice the positive energy for once then mission accomplished…more of the anxious songs are on the way afterwards but I needed one hopeful moment haha! It’s about being totally obsessed with my gf. Fleetwood Mac inspired this track 100%.”