Hauntingly beautiful vocals paired with a minimal musical backdrop makes for a truly inspired selection of emotional and beguiling songs. Marissa Nadler announced a new album, “The Path of the Clouds” and shared its first single, “Bessie Did You Make It” via a video for it. The Path of the Clouds is due out October 29th via Sacred Bones and Bella Union.
Nadler wrote and recorded the album during the pandemic and was partially inspired by binging reruns of Unsolved Mysteries as she “began to notice parallels between many of its stories and her own life,” as a press release puts it. On The Path of the Clouds she worked with various collaborators, including Mary Lattimore, Simon Raymonde (of Cocteau Twins and Lost Horizons and the head of Bella Union), multi-instrumentalist Milky Burgess, Jesse Chandler (Nadler’s piano teacher and a member of Mercury Rev and Midlake), Emma Ruth Rundle, and Black Mountain’s Amber Webber. Seth Manchester (Lingua Ignota, Battles, and Lightning Bolt) mixed the album.
Thou’s Mitch Wells directed the “Bessie, Did You Make It?” video and had this to say in a press release: “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 buffet of all your favourite 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.”
Nadler’s last album was 2018’s “For My Crimes”.
So glad that Marissa releases all this extra material. I often like the demo versions better than the final thing, it’s so intimate and real. Like having a friend show you a song they are working on.
Bessie, Did You Make It? from the album “The Path of the Clouds” Out 10/29/21 on Sacred Bones Records and Bella Union Records
Released March 20th, 2020
The Fat Angel Sings 