Review: Marissa Nadler’s ‘The Path of the Clouds’
Jordan Hoban | November 11, 2021
Murder ballads are attractive. How could they not be? The drama, the mystery, the sorrow, all woven together into a simple, singable melody. They’re an arrow pointing directly to the past, and artists have often played the target, trying to add the depth of an historical context to their work.
In Marissa Nadler’s new album, “The Path of the Clouds,” she opens with, “Bessie, Did You Make It?” — what could be described as a murder ballad for a new generation. Soft, looming bass fills the empty spaces between the sharpness of the guitar, leaving just enough room for woodwinds, harmonies and textures. Nadler hides like the bodies she describes, lost in cloudbanks without a compass,but tradition ends there.
“The Path of the Clouds isn’t a vulnerable record, nor homespun or folksy. Though there are soft spots in the production, the album is constantly building textures to support the singer-songwriter’s airy vocals. Nadler is described as a goth-folk artist, and goth-folk has unavoidable trappings: lushness, morbidity and tones. Lots of tones. Tones when you think there couldn’t possibly be tones, but there they are. Synth tones, guitar tones, even the occasional piano sustained long past the conceivable, all standing like warriors to protect the fragile Nadler. At times the album begins to repeat itself, but that’s okay. Even The Handsome Family has written the same song so many times that it became a career. That’s the beauty of entering the forgiving family of the genre.
While “The Path of the Clouds” never leaves its genre, it does slide casually from an interest in traditional forms, reminiscent of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ “Murder Ballads,” into the surreal world of David Lynch. As the album progresses, you can feel Angelo Badalamenti’s influence, while the Lynchian, nostalgia-drenched electric guitar thrums. The music begins to sway, her voice becomes more like Juile Cruise, and the lyrics run and hide.
The album feels like a singer-songwriter trying to be more than a singer-songwriter. That’s understandable. No one wants to be pigeonholed into open mics and coffee shops, not even people who play open mics and coffee shops. There’s a telling line in her Leonard Cohen inspired song, “Storm,” where she sings:
I thought I would disappear
go anywhere but here.
I wish that I knew
the shadow of gloom
Was everywhere.
I hope it can’t find me here.
But you can find her right where she put herself, at the Bang Bang Bar, on stage surrounded by leather daddies, singing into a glittering Shure 55S, as the murderers and sullen school girls slow dance hand in hand with demoniacs and drug fiends. She stands beside Sylvan Esso, Lana Del Rey and the throngs of artists obsessed with capitalizing on the complicated sexuality of Lynch’s best films. “The Path of the Clouds” is music hidden away from the rest of the world, lounging in an alternate America where smoke obscures your every view.
“The Path of the Clouds”was released October 29, 2021. If you like the themes of Nick Cave, the unpredictable chord changes of Leonard Cohen, and the dreamy production of David Lynch and Angelo Badalamenti, give it a listen. Today may be your lucky day.
