July
It’s taken this otherworldly singer/songwriter six albums to find herself at the center of the songs. Perhaps it isn’t her failed love she sings of throughout *July*, but that’s highly doubtful given the intimacy shared here; her lyrics previously shied from telling us anything too concrete. The production by Randall Dunn, whose previous credits include doom-drone-metal gods Earth and Sunn O))), focuses on Nadler’s vocals and works the instrumentation from there. Heavy reverb continues to envelop her every note, but Eyvind Kang’s strings, Steve Moore’s synths, and Phil Wandscher’s supportive guitars never intrude with the conversation she’s having with her ex-lover. Songs such as “Drive” and “1923” maintain a placid front, with the stirring “Dead City Emily” and “Was It a Dream” cranking up the intensity with multi-tracked vocals that battle one another, like sirens fighting for their song. Gentle fingerpicked guitars lure one into the cauldron of “Desire.” Like a chamber-folk mass intended as the final conflagration, *July* hits fever pitch (“Anyone Else”) before settling into “Nothing in My Heart,” where only time will tell what truly remains.
Recorded at Seattle’s Avast Studio, the album pairs Nadler for the first time with producer Randall Dunn (Earth, Sunn O))), Wolves in the Throne Room). Dunn matches Nadler’s darkness by creating a multi-colored sonic palette that infuses new dimensions into her songs. Eyvind Kang’s strings, Steve Moore’s synths, and Phil Wandscher’s guitar lines escalate the whole affair to a panoramic level of beautiful, eerie wonder. July is the kind of release that reminds you why NPR counts Nadler’s songwriting as so “revered among an assortment of tastemakers.” This is a singular achievement for the artist, a record she couldn’t have made earlier in her career because, as every songwriter knows, she didn’t just write these songs: she lived them.
The haunted folk singer's latest album is her most tactile, thanks in part to producer Randall Dunn, best known for his work with metal bands such as Earth, Sunn O))), and Wolves in the Throne Room.
Following Nadler from one album to the next is like scraping away at the forearm with a scratch awl - and we’re finally at blood and bone.
On July, her debut for Sacred Bones, Marissa Nadler strips away the metaphorical language that has been a hallmark in her songwriting--even when it was self referential. She speaks in the first person charting the aftermath of a devastating romantic relationship. These songs are colored in deep, gauzy American Gothic in lyric, melody, and production -- the latter provided by Randall Dunn (Earth, Akron/Family, Wolves in the Throne Room).
Since her appropriately titled 2004 debut Ballads of Living and Dying, Marissa Nadler has demonstrated herself to be a keen lyricist with a knack for hauntingly gorgeous arrangements and a voice that can heal wounds or spin gold.
The prolific Marissa Nadler doesn't run out of sparse instrumentation over which to drape her haunting voice.
Review Of "July" the upcoming album By Marissa Nadler. "July" comes out February 4 on Sacred Bones/Bella Union. Marissa Nadler plays February 8 in Brooklyn.