- Heather Nova Weathers the Quiet Storm By Steve Appleford, Dec. 1995 -

That dedication has usually earned cheers during Novas first U.S. tour, as she drifts into the siren call that begins "Island," a haunting internal monologueon domestic abuse ("He's too scared to hit me now/He'll bring flowers instead"). That is, anywhere but Los Angeles, where the mere suggestion of the endless O.J. Simpson trial is enough to give even the most hardened local clubgoer the vapors. What emerges instead tonight is an awkward murmur and muffled clapping.

No matter. The 28-year-old Nova has made her point. Escapism is likewise in short supply on her new album, Oyster, notwithstanding the pure pop swirl of its first single, "Walk This World." More often it's death, betrayal, sexual politics, hope and redemption -- accented with emotional bursts of guitar -- that have her attention. "For me, songwriting is often an act of hope," says Nova, chatting poolside at her Sunset Strip hotel, the day before her show. "It's about coming out the other side of something, And singing is when I feel most alive and in touch with something spiritual. It's the most real thing that I do."

With "Island," Nova explores the grim spiral of abusive relationships. "It goes on behind dosed doors," she says quietly. "And it's often difficult to go for help because it's a situation tied up in all kinds of things -- like feeling it's your fault, being scared and dependent. There"s such a loss of self-esteem that you feel you deserve it, in some screwed-up way."

Nova"s is not the angst-ridden wail of Alanis Morissette Nova's voice is too achingly soft for that. She draws more inspiration from Neil Young, another subversive folk singer with an inclination to the dramatic electric-guitar riff. In her own performances of songs like Young's "Like a Hurricane" or her own "Maybe an Angel," Nova's voice grows heavier with the mounting chord changes, and her eyes roll back, whether she's singing about the pain of loss or the brutality of love gone bad. "All my songs are inspired by real life," she says. "I need to write from my own experience."

The expressive possibilities of pop were a late discovery for Heather Nova (nee Frith). She was born in Bermuda and raised on her parents' 40-foot sailboat with little electricity and no running water or refrigeration, and she had virtually no contact with pop culture. Music was limited to her parents" old Beatles and Van Morrison records, along with friendly gatherings of fellow boat people sailing through the West Indies. "People would get together on someone's boat in the evenings with guitars," Nova says. "That's when I learned guitar."

By her late teens, Nova had been shipped off to school in the States and experienced a period of adjustment. "I didn't feel like I fit in," she says. "It wasn't like academically I'd missed a lot. It was more socially that I found hard and awkward." Nova found solace in the music of Patti Smith and David Bowie and, soon after, the Cocteau Twins and Pixies. It was later, while studying filmmaking and painting at the Rhode Island School of Design, that she wandered into a poetry class and "discovered the chemistry of words."

Soon, Nova was writing her own songs. And after she graduated from RISD six years ago, Nova appeared at the Columbia Records offices in New York with a three-song demo tape, in search of a record deal. She didn"t get one. "I had no idea how the music industry worked at all," Nova says with a laugh. "I literally went into a store and looked up the address of Columbia Records on the back of a CD." Her next stop was London and a long struggle for gigs while working at the Bermuda tourist office. Her first performance was at a small singer/songwriter showcase, which led immediately to her fast paid gig: an S/M birthday party.

In London, Nova met the producer and Killing Joke bassist Youth, who released a collection of her songs, Glow-stars, on his Butterfly label. Nova quickly built a full band around herself to create a rich if often dark fabric that weaves her fondness for lilting vocals with the edge of electric guitar and the melancholy sweep of cello. It's a blend that Nova would continue on the series of subsequent EPs (including this year"s Live From the Milky Way) that has helped create a following throughout Europe. "I wanted more music around me," she says, "I wanted the sound I could hear in my head. Playing live with a band has totally changed performing for me, because I used to be scared of performing. Then when I had the band, I could just completely lose myself in the music"

That sound has begun to reach American ears via Oyster and MTV's airing of the "Walk This World" video. Nova and her backing quartet (which now includes longtime guitarist David Ayers, cellist Nadia Lanman, drummer Bob Thompson and bassist Gareth Thomas) are also spreading that sound with a tour of the States and Japan. Just days into it, the bands big red bus broke down in Tupelo, Miss., the birthplace of Elvis. It was an unscheduled stop, but Nova smiles at the memory. "I was obviously made for this lifestyle," she says. "It"s just like being on the boat again."

PHOTO (BLACK & WHITE): Heather Nova