Noël Wells

It’s hard to imagine Noël Wells was at a crossroads given her previous successes. In the years prior to now, she was a cast member on Saturday Night Live, the inimitable Rachel on Master of None, and the writer, director, and star of the award-winning indie feature film Mr. Roosevelt which continues to garner fans in the streaming space. After juggling roles in the worlds of comedy, television, and film, Wells never let her creativity or ambition pause. Which explains why now, with her debut album It’s So Nice, an 11 song LP that cinches Wells’ as not just a talent to watch, but a multi- hyphenate artist finding her voice.

“It kind of came as a surprise,” she says, referring to the songs that would eventually make up the 11 song LP. While Wells participated in band in middle school, and considered herself relatively musical, she had never actively entertained a career in music. But after experiencing an emotionally volatile 2016, including career frustrations, a breakup, and the national tumult that surrounded the election, she found herself writing poems to cope, and after buying a guitar and taking lessons, she eventually started writing songs.

It’s So Nice is an engaging catchy song experience that saunters through a diverse set of folk pop songs, country ballads, and bonafide indie rock earworms. While beautifully and tastefully produced, what’s most striking is the songwriting. At times deceptively simple, the tightly composed lyrics are filled with timeless aphoristic one- liners, sometimes serious, sometimes political, sometimes lighthearted and witty, akin to songwriters like John Lennon (Sunrise) or Tom Petty (Brighter Day), both whom Wells’ cautiously sites as influences.

It’s this kind of vulnerable honesty that can be seen as the through line of the creative work Wells’ has done to date, and while a heartfelt examination of self-loathing may seem like a predictable area for an artist to undertake, there’s an air of unexpectedness to the album, ping-ponging from earnest childlike hopefulness to astute and acerbic political observations which keeps you on your toes, done so smoothly and effortlessly you may miss it. But on careful listen, you realize this isn’t an actress making a record for fun. It’s a musician and artist finding her voice in a time of need.