| CLARA-NOVA | |
| Origin: | Los Angeles, California |
| Genre: | indie rock, baroque pop, electronic |
| Years Active: | 2007-present |
| Label: | AWAL |
| Associated Acts: | Sydney Wayser, Timberwolf, Ali Barter |
Sydney Wayser (born October 7, 1986), known professionally as Clara-Nova, stylized as CLARA-NOVA[1]) is a French-American electronic indie pop artist based in Los Angeles. She is a guitarist, keyboard player and singer who has released 3 albums and 1 EP with another EP set for 2018.
Sydney Wayser was born in Los Angeles, but spent summers in Paris with her French musician-filmmaker father, Jacques Wayser. She graduated from the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts then divided her time between New York, New York and Los Angeles, California[2] making her own music that was influenced by Jeff Buckley, Serge Gainsbourg, Rufus Wainwright, Loudon Wainwright III and Leonard Cohen, as well as women like Feist and Beyonce.[3]
When Wayser released her debut album, Silent Parade in 2008, NPR cited "her unabashed love for gloomy orchestrations and waltz rhythms. There's the tinkling glockenspiel, a lone oboe, accordion and creaking string arrangements, with Wayser's piano work steering the ship. It's an appropriate backdrop for her brooding meditations on misery and heartache, all set in a world inhabited by lurking strangers and ghosts of the past."[4]
In 2009, Wayser's album The Colorful was released, and three years later came Bell Choir Coast. The latter album was produced by Dan Molad from Lucius and mixed by Shawn Everett.[5]
From that album, the song "Dream It Up" was used as the soundtrack for Billabong's 2012 Summer Swim video.[6]
After Hurricane Sandy hit New York in October 2012, Wayser's Brooklyn apartment was flooded. As a result, she moved back to Los Angeles where she created a new recording and performing persona called Clara-Nova which the LA Weekly noted "represents the evolution of Wayser, lyrically and musically. She's ditching the acoustic guitar for a standing keyboard and tambourine backed by a full band."[7]
As Clara-Nova, Wayser debuted live in January 2014 at the Sundance Film Festival, and that March appeared on NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly to support Bell Choir Coast.[8]
On 2014, her work earned Clara-Nova the ASCAP Abe Olman Scholarship and that same year she was signed to a major label only to see that deal end with the label taking her masters. As a result, Wayser began rerecording that music.[9]
Clara-Nova performed at the 2016 edition of SXSW.[10]
Wayser spent 2017 singing backup for Lorde as well as working with producer Shawn Everett (Weezer,Alabama Shakes, John Legend, Lucius) on a new Clara-Nova EP called The Iron Age set for release on March 2, 2018 on Kobalt Music Recordings. "The Illusionist" single from the EP was released September 29, 2017.[11]
As Clara-Nova, Wayser's version of the Simple Minds' ballad "Belfast Child" was used in the trailer for Ridley Scott's biblical film "Exodus: Gods and Kings" in 2014.[12] A year later, "Dear God", an XTC song covered by the band Lawless featuring Wayser on vocals was featured in a trailer for the Academy Award-winning film Spotlight.[13] That same song version provided the music for Outlanders season 2 trailer in 2016.[14]
The trailer for 2017’s Netflix film, Icarus, featured Wayser's cover of the Cake song, "Going the Distance"
During her career span, Wayser has had her songs featured in a number of television shows highlighting scenes. From her Bell Choir Coast album, four songs were used in Shameless including "Dirty Work",[15] "Geographer",[16] "Potions" and "Wake Up".[17] Grey's Anatomy contained Clara-Nova's cover of Hall and Oates' "Maneater" in an episode.[18]
As Sydney Wayser and Clara-Nova, the artist's songs have been used in national advertising spots for Madewell, Victoria's Secret, Old Navy, Billabong, Whole Foods and others.