Dreams, to me, always feel like a collection of tales from across generations, dimensions, and time zones, all of the scenes informed by people here and gone or characters and events invented in our minds. It’s a weird way to communicate with ourselves, but it can spark inspiration or allow you to branch our beyond yourself.
Marissa Nadler’s music always will be covered on this site. Not because of her work with Xasthur. But because she has a sense of doom and darkness as thick as any of the players who create those sounds. Oh, and because we fucking love her. “New Radiations” is her new record, her 10th and another immersive trip into her mind. While a little more folkish than her last couple albums, these 11 tracks will prove she’s right where she usually is, telling tales as old as time that seem to come from somewhere time doesn’t even exist. It’s a warm, haunting, rousing adventure, and every ounce of this goes down easily.
“It Hits Harder” opens with stark acoustics, Nadler’s unmistakable voice calling, “Everything dies, it’s just the way.” The longing is evident as soft, sorrowful melodies gather, and an electric gaze numbs before fading. “Bad Dreams Summertime” feels like it should be thought of in black and white, sun not able to break the barrier, Nadler singing, “Right place, but wrong time to scream.” The chorus numbs as the song blends into the surreal and strange, disappearing into unease. “You Called Her Camelia” has acoustics with electric tones lulling, Nadler calling, “You know she loved you, but it all changed.” The tone remains soft and black, pedal steel glistening, organs moving through the shade to the other side. “Smoke Screen Selene” has the guitars pacing, feeling doomy, then strings glaze and the distortion trudges. Acoustics encircle, Nadler’s voice flooding your mind, slowly bleeding away power. The title track has warm acoustics, the singing pushing ahead, Nadler recalling, “I was tracing the light of a memory,” as galactic winds send breezes. The playing grows calmer as buzzing guitars quiver, ending in electric glaze. “If It’s An Illusion” has a folk country feel, delicately moving, the chorus entrancing, Nadler calling, “I’m still choosing the ground below.” The playing haunts as weepy guitars give a sun-splashed vibe.
“Hatchet Man” is the brightest but also murkiest gem of the collection, dark folk strains permeating, Nadler calling, “I was in over my head, I couldn’t make him love me only, would have been better just to live with loneliness than all of this.” The playing has a ’70s feel, heartache and sadness making up the shape of this phantom, guitars coating the end. “Light Years” has the acoustics making strange patterns, strings layering, Nadler recalling, “You used to be right there beside her.” The melodies slowly melt as hints of light from the track blurs into night. “Weightless Above the Water” lets guitars and strings glimmer, the singing float, the darkness fully mesmerize you. The emptiness and ghostliness become a heavy presence while organs swell, and keys fully evaporate. “To Be the Moon King” is another storyteller, this one feeling like an old-time tale but also a timeless one. Nadler sings of her subject, “Building rockets behind his house, crows over his head,” as dreams from beyond increase. There’s a fantastical feel to it all, like watching a sepia-coated film, everything fading away. Closer “Sad Satellite” keeps us in space, acoustics dripping as memories from winter days shake you. “It was sucking me dry, you can see it in my eyes,” Nadler levels, spacey keys quivering as she follows, “I mistook you for the sky,” as wistful tones linger.
Nadler never veers far from what she’s always done so well, but she never fails to haunt and hypnotize, singing of tales that feel pulled from past dreams. “New Radiations” deliver 11 more dusty pages from Nadler’s brain that seem to defy time and generation in both words and music. Every trip with her is worth anyone’s time, and each record she releases takes you somewhere you’ve never been before though you swear you know it by heart.
For more on the band, go here: https://www.marissanadler.com/
To buy the album, go here: https://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/products/sbr-371-marissa-nadler-new-radiations
For more on the label, go here: https://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/
Meat Mead Metal 