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Nova Heart

#sxsw #NovaHeart

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Listen to beautiful boys (rodion demo)

"Highly anticipated" – Telonius, co-owner of Gomma Records

"Dark, sexy and beautiful - Music Karl Lagerfeld would be proud of" - Alex Chow, Creative Director, Vogue China

“In a scene where a lot of rockstars take themselves a bit seriously, Helen Feng´s out-and-out .. theatricality is a breath of fresh air. Watching her… you´re guaranteed to get a great performance” - Time Out

Nova Heart is Helen Feng´s 冯海宁 long awaited solo project.

Dubbed as the “Queen of Beijing Rock” or “Blondie of China” Helen, born in Beijng and raised in the US and Canada, has been a staple in the Chinese music scene since she moved back from Los Angeles to Beijing in 2002 when she was hired as VJ for MTV China. In 2004 she found Ziyo one of Chinas longest running and most popular indie bands (and renamed it Free the Birds in 2010 after changing musical directions) and subsequently became radioshow host of The Rockshow a very influential program at Beijings HIT FM on China Radio International. In 2007 she co-found the seminal Chinese electronic group Pet Conspiracy. Within the next three years she sang the theme song for Hollywood blockbuster The Mummy III, won several of the most prestigious Chinese Music Awards (Midi & Chinese Music Awards), hosted the Vice Creators Project, co-found FakeMusicMedia and toured Europe three times – a fact that until this day very few chinese bands have achieved.

Upon culmination of her final whirlwind European tour as front-woman of Pet Conspiracy 宠物同谋 in fall 2010,  Helen quit the band and,  took a few days off in Istanbul to prepare the next steps for Free the Birds自游.
But the powers of the city had different plans with the and threw her and her partner DJ Metro Tokyo into raucous Raki-fueled nights through dizzying mazes of narrow alleys into the ancient discotheques of Constantinople. One fateful night, a chance encounter with Roman electronic-cowboy Rodion (Gomma Records) gave birth to NOVA HEART. After returning to Beijing, Helen sent her self-produced tracks 3000 miles down the silk road to Rome where Rodion would tap them with his magic disco wand. The outcome is a mix of sexy psychedelic disco with lo-fi ethereal like pop vocals. A sinister disco beat buried under haunting soundscapes makes it sound like as if naked ghosts would be dancing under a mirrorball.

Back from Rome where she completed the production of the debut album Helen recruited Bo Xuan (ex-Hedge Hog bassist), Wang Hui (guitar player of Free the Birds) and occasionally Metro Tokyo (as DJ)

Only half a year into their existence (December 2011) Nova Heart already played at Chinas most prestigous contemporary art gallery (UCCA), got invited to one of Chinas´ biggest music festival (Zebra), got selected for the Coca Cola Stage at Westlake Hangzhou, was guest at the Zurich Street Parade/Lethargy Festival, part of a MTV China special, has a song in a Converse online commercial, and did their first national tour including Beijing, Shanghai, and the Clockenflap festival in Hong Kong.

For 2012 Nova Heart already got invited to Australia (Feb), SXSW & Canadian Music Fest in North America (March) and c/o pop in Germany (June).

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