Month: August 2014
Marissa Nadler – July (2014)
I had never heard of Marissa Nadler before seeing her album review on Pitchfork way back in early February. What initially struck me about it was the stark album cover, a mostly black cover with a woman standing in front of a window. I wrote the name down and ordered it after I kept hearing about how good the album is… but then didn’t get around to actually listening to it for a couple more months. Why do I even have a blog?
July is Nadler’s sixth album and it is mostly as stark as that album cover. Acoustic guitar is the main accompaniment to Nadler’s country-like singing tones which at times can swoop like Patsy Cline. There is desolate yet dreamy atmosphere throughout, a trend which gets acknowledged in the title of “Was It a Dream”. “I’ve Got Your Name” could soundtrack a David Lynch movie scene – “Riding back to Massachusetts, couldn’t even see from snow, the road was studded in Christmas trees”. A deep regret of a past relationship comes through in both “Anyone Else” and “Holiday In”.
Records that sound like this are usually tailor made for summer evenings, sitting in backyards and staring at empty fields. July is different; it feels like it was recorded for winter nights, even if the title thinks differently. The backing vocals in “Drive” sound like a Northern wind blowing right through the song. As I sit here on this Labour Day weekend, the traditional end to summer where everyone clears out to their cabins, the empty town in “Dead City Emily” rings true. It’s hard to be a sleeper of a record when every publication has name checked it, but as the nights get colder and duvets start getting pulled out of the closet, Marissa Nadler’s July is a special one to have on your record player and clasped close to your chest.
9/10
…glow by the fire…
First Aid Kit – Stay Gold (2014)
“And the only man you ever loved, you thought was going to marry you, died in a car accident when he was only 22, and then you just decided love wasn’t for you” The touching lyric from First Aid Kit’s 2012 single “Blue” shows the poignancy of the young Söderberg sisters. Old souls, wise beyond their years and every other similar cliché can be thrown their way. Still just 24 and 21 years old, Johanna and Klara are already veterans of the music industry – having had #1 records in their native Sweden, performed with Fleet Foxes, rubbed shoulders with Connor Oberst and Jack White – Stay Gold is their third album in four years.
There is a 70s country slickness to much of Stay Gold. The core band on most songs, the sisters along with Benkt Söderberg on bass and Niclas Lindström on drums, is often augmented with an arm’s length list of string and guitar players. This never dilutes the songs or drowns them in syrup; instead they add a classic feel to tales of escape, looking over New York City, and road weariness. The galloping drums and quick wordplay of “My Silver Lining” gets the album moving right away and later on the harmonies shine through brightly on “Waitress Song”. The title track’s vulnerable chorus is a knockout – “What if our hard work ends in despair, what if the road won’t take me there, oh I wish for once we could stay gold”
While the tracks take on a more personal feel than past efforts, they contain a universality that are easily relatable. “Now I can’t believe that it’s been five years, since we both stood here looking out at this city, with minds so bold and thoughts so clear”. On their first release for Columbia Records, Johanna and Klara absolutely stay gold throughout.
8.5/10
The Light Appears 