Tele Novella

The Full Story

Words Abby L. Johnson | Photos Baptiste Despois

A dreamy, medieval-meets-Western aesthetic comes to life in the universe of music duo Tele Novella, where sonic and visual cohesion creates a dazzling vehicle for other worldly storytelling.

Natalie Ribbons and partner Jason Chronis, together Tele Novella, took a deep breath of Small Town, Texas, and exhaled a well-fabricated, intoxicating world in which vampires and rodeo clowns and Shakespearean imagery dance together on the same western soundstage.

Natalie (a Sacramento native and former front person of Agent Ribbons) moved to East Austin in 2010. She got to know the neighborhood working at Rio Rita Lounge on Chicon Street. “[It] was the bar that convinced me to move to Austin,” she confesses. A friend brought her to the bar’s ‘Bring Your Own Records Night,’ and that was it. “I just really fell in love with the coziness and the fact that it was dive-y, but also kind of nice. It just felt like a very real space to me.”

Jason (current bassist of Voxtrot), on the other hand, was born in Austin and raised in Smithville, returning to the Live Music Capital of the World after graduating high school. While the pair enjoyed living on the Eastside, they found the out-of-time quality of small towns calling them. They ended up in Lockhart, the perfect backdrop for fleshing out their shared creative world.

“Tele Novella is an honest portrayal of the way we like to make things look and feel in our lives,” explains Jason, referring to the striking visuals accompanying their work. Settling on such an unusual juxtaposition of outlaw country conventions with the dramatic tropes of the 15th century wasn’t necessarily on purpose, but the accidental marriage made for a compelling artistic direction that the pair ran with.“The songs didn’t sound medieval or western before we recorded them,” explained Natalie. She continues, “But then it gave Jason’s more artistic direction to figure out, ‘okay, what kind of sound do we want to use for this?’ And then once we played with that medieval western theme, it guided us as a starting place.”

Striking tones plucked straight from the desert landscape mark the visual language of Tele Novella’s word, the rich colors tying together the eclectic assemblage of imagery. “We try to incorporate Lockhart into our visual aesthetic, making this small town a big part of the band’s aesthetic,” explains Natalie. For example, the alluringly eerie music video for “Vampire Cowgirl” is partly shot at Little Trouble, a local restaurant with an uncanny atmosphere that feels perfectly at home in the Tele Novella universe. 

Across their two records, “Merlyn Belle” and “Poet’s Tooth,” they have established a folksy indie pop sound buoyed by vivid storytelling and lullaby-esque melodies. At times haunting and other times playful, Natalie’s melodious voice skips across lush layers of strings like a stone across water, tossed by a curious mind. 

Favorite Haunts
Jason and Natalie say that some of their favorite venues in Austin include Hotel Vegas, Radio East, and Sagebrush.

Get the Look
Natalie’s passion for storytelling through a curated look is also channeled into her own clothing store, Magic Mirror Vintage. The charming shop is full of fun little treasures waiting to add a little bit of whimsy to any wardrobe.

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