Jess Novak and Ben Wayne have been performing together since 2018. Brought together as a couple, the musicians’ relationship grew through their songs. Wayne’s background of Southern California rock and reggae paired with Novak’s distinct violin and songwriting combines to create a sound that bounces between soft and strong, but stays heartfelt and infectious. “Rise” came about when the duo was invited to record in Nashville thanks to the help of songwriter, Kirsti Manna.
The result is a disc featuring studio musicians who recorded at Omni Sound Studios and Novak and Wayne complimenting each other in the most sincere ways on songs they wrote for one another. Based out of Syracuse, NY, this multi-talented duo plays both together (and with bands Safe Word and Last Call Kings) and separately as solo acts. Novak also heads The Jess Novak Band and was voted Best Female Vocalist by the Syracuse New Times in 2018. Her band won the Syracuse Area Music Award for Best Pop for their album Inches from the Sun in 2016. Rise marks Novak’s eighth release and Wayne also released a 12-song album (Expletive Repeated )in October 2019. Both are also working on their next recorded projects.
