Heather Nova

Wonderlust

Good, but a bit predictable; no revelatory moments.

Review Score:

(8/10)
On her first live album, Blow, Heather Nova threw caution to the wind, radically rearranged many of her songs from Glow Stars, jacked up the energy level, and came up with her best album. Wonderlust, unfortunately, plays it too safe and is a bit flat as a result.

On her lengthy tour beginning in 1998 (I saw it once in Toronto and twice in New York) the more mellow, reserved nature of the songs from Siren really showed. But witnessing the chemistry between Nova and her band, and Nova's onstage charisma, made up for the somewhat unsurprising, rarely changing setlist. On record, however, the experience gets lost, and though her songs remain engaging and melodic, there isn't much here that you won't get from the original studio recordings. And the work of Nova's guitar goddess Berit Fridahl (whose fiery lead lines add much to Nova's live performances) and compelling bassist Bastien Juel (who sings great background vocals) are buried in the mix, cleaned up and turned down, without the directness that their live performances commanded.

Wonderlust is worth getting if you haven't been to Nova's shows and want to get an impression of her concert persona. But it isn't the mind-blowing experience that was the Blow album, even though it retains its own brand of low-key charm. Given a choice, go see Nova in a live setting instead. This album is no substitute.

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