The problem with genre labels is that they sound precise when they are anything but. Sylvia Rose Novak's website (which I assume she had a strong hand in crafting) refers to this as her "rock" album. Compared to what she calls her "alt-country" albums, perhaps. But to the uneducated (and even educated) ear, it all falls into the catchall genre that shall not be named.

Sylvia Rose Novak Bad Luck (self-released)

I will say that there are some lovely guitar riffs that compliment Novak's unique voice. At first, she sounds fragile. But there are cords of steel underneath that brittle-sounding patina. The more I listened, the more I felt the strength. Having given a short listen to her earlier work, in the past she relied on the fragile elements of her voice. On this album, she's much more likely to belt her way out of the corner.

Genre notions aside, this is a departure for Novak. She's out to kick ass on this album, and the shift is almost as jarring as it was to hear Patty Griffin's Flaming Red for the first time. To emphasize the similarities, it's not that Novak's intensity has increased. Just the volume. These are top-down, Sparkomatic-cranked songs. The subjects haven't changed, and Novak's obvious passion is still omnipresent. They're just louder.

Solid and often haunting, this set isn't exactly rock, folk or country. It's all of them. Novak hasn't really shifted gears so much as mashed them. Thoroughly enjoyable and consistently moving.

Jon Worley