August 25, 2021 For Immediate Release
Marissa Nadler Announces New Album The Path of the Clouds Out October 29th on Sacred Bones & Bella Union & Shares Lead Single/Video “Bessie, Did You Make It?"
Photo credit: Nick Fancher
Marissa Nadler announces her ninth solo album, The Path of the Clouds, out October 29th on Sacred Bones & Bella Union, and shares the lead single/video, “Bessie, Did You Make It?” The Path of the Clouds is the most stylistically adventurous, lyrically transfixing, and melodically sophisticated collection of songs in her already rich discography. Gripped by wanderlust while suddenly housebound at the start of the pandemic in 2020, Nadler escaped into writing, and came back with a stunning set of songs about metamorphosis, love, mysticism, and murder. Blurring the line between reality and fantasy and moving freely between past and present, these 11 deeply personal, self-produced songs find Nadler exploring new landscapes, both sonic and emotional.
While she’s always been a brilliant guitarist, Nadler challenged herself to expand her palette for The Path of the Clouds, experimenting with synthetic textures that make the album feel untethered from time and space. Nadler also learned to play piano during the pandemic’s isolation, and she composed many of the songs on the album on keys rather than guitar, which further contributed to their exploratory feel. These songs are unmistakably Marissa Nadler’s, but they sound free to go places she’s never gone before.
One of Nadler’s distractions during the 2020 quarantine was binging reruns of Unsolved Mysteries. As she watched, she began to notice parallels between many of its stories and her own life. What began as a writing exercise became the bedrock of her songwriting process, as she came to inhabit the narratives that had so fascinated her. In lead single “Bessie, Did You Make It?,” Nadler inverts the canon of the murder ballad, crafing a narrative of female empowerment and survival.
The accompanying video was directed by Thou’s Mitch Wells who says, "When I first got the chance to hear Marissa’s new album, and was asked, ‘Which song would you like to do a video for?’ I sort of panicked because literally every song is SO good. It was like being at a bufet of all your favorite food and only being able to choose one thing to eat. I had a blast making the video, but there was always the pressure of ‘don’t let down the song.’ It’s such a beautiful opening track and I’m really lucky I was given the chance to be a part of it."
Watch “Bessie, Did You Make It” Video
Nadler tracked the skeletons of The Path of the Clouds at home and then sent them to some choice collaborators, including experimental harpist Mary Lattimore and Simon Raymonde, the Cocteau Twins bassist and her Lost Horizons collaborator. Multi-instrumentalist Milky Burgess, having recently worked on the soundtrack to the film Mandy, adds intricate melodic power throughout the album. Jesse Chandler, Nadler’s piano teacher (as well as a member of Mercury Rev and Midlake), plays winding woodwinds and plaintive piano to luminous efect. Fellow singer-songwriter Emma Ruth Rundle and Black Mountain’s Amber Webber contribute elsewhere. Seth Manchester, known for his work with Lingua Ignota, Battles, and Lightning Bolt, mixed the album, adding dimension to the songs’ atmospheric beauty with screeching feedback and distorted guitars.
The Path of the Clouds showcases the power of an artist at the peak of her powers nearly 20 years into an acclaimed career as a songwriter and singer. Coming a long way from the spare dream folk of her earlier work, she has remained inspired and continues to evolve, open to new ideas and directions. The proof is right here, in Nadler’s most ambitious and complex album yet.
Watch “Bessie, Did You Make It” Video
Pre-order The Path of the Clouds
The Path of the Clouds tracklist 1. Bessie, Did You Make It 2. The Path of the Clouds 3. Couldn’t Have Done The Killing 4. If I Could Breathe Underwater 5. Elegy 6. Well Sometimes You Just Can’t Stay 7. From Vapor to Stardust 8. Storm 9. Turned Into Air 10. And I Dream Of Running 11. Lemon Queen
Download hi-res images of Marissa Nadler The Path of the Clouds cover art
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