Ali Lacey began Novo Amor as a project of sorts - an act of defiance in the wake of a break-up, but along the way, quite unexpectedly, he found something rich and rewarding. Years ago, a summer spent by an evergreen-surrounded lake in upstate New York supplied both the impetus and imagery that he would use to craft his debut album ‘Birthplace’ (2018), and the follow-up, ‘Cannot Be Whatsoever’ (2020) in a house in Cardiff that was part-home, part-studio, a place where the distant chatter of a party across the street, Bonfire Night fireworks and the seagulls that congregate on the building site next door bled into his recordings.