If It's Too Loud...

Photo by Ebru Yildiz There's something about Marissa Nadler's music that is simply magical. Her sound is both timeless and out of time, both modern and vintage. Her latest single, "Light Years," is the most folk-based of her recent singles, but I couldn't exactly call it folk. It sounds like it could have originally been found in a centuries old scroll, or it could have been a lost recording from the more experimental side of the 1960's. But it certainly doesn't sound like 2025... although it absolutely does. Nadler's style is such a unique one, with just barely enough roots in the familiar to keep her at least somewhat accessible. Hers is a singular voice that we simply can't get enough of. You can watch the video for "Light Years" below. New Radiations is due out August 15 on Sacred Bones, and is available for pre-order here . For more on Marissa Nadler, check out the artist's website . Upcoming tour dates are below and include a Fe...

Photo by Ebru Yildiz Marissa Nadler is known for making beautiful but dark music, and her latest single is no exception. "Hatchet Man" is a "cosmic murder ballad" that could be listened to as a pretty song, but once you pay attention to the lyrics, the song has a wildly different meaning. Of course, the music and sound of "Hatchet Man" also exposes the dark side of the song. As moody and ethereal as the song is, its stunning beauty could possibly mask just how dark the song is. Long time fans of Nadler's are going to love "Hatchet Man," and this one will definitely win over some new ones, too. Marissa Nadler says of her latest single: "Hatchet Man’ is about a sinister character bringing a woman home—not for romance, but to murder her—while the narrator, his partner, is made to witness it unfold. Ultimately, the storyteller escapes, adrenaline flooding her veins. The sweet, lilting melody of the chorus offers a stark contrast to the verse...

Photo by Ebru Yildiz It's been roughly three years since we last heard from Marissa Nadler. Just last week I was telling a friend that I was most familiar with Stephen Brodsky through his collaborations with Nadler, and today she has announced an upcoming album and released a new single! "New Radiations" is everything we love about Nadler's music. The adjective "ethereal" gets tossed out a lot by music writers, but the term was basically invented to describe Nadler's music. "New Radiations" showcases her fingerpicking guitar playing and her otherworldly vocals. Even an acoustic based song like this one has a layer of haze coating it, and the entire song feels like that bizarre period of sleep when you're just drifting off into a dream but still somewhat awake. "New Radiations" is a raw and intimate work of art that is gorgeous in its own way. Marissa Nadler says of her latest single: “Psychic vibrations and new radiations have tak...

Photo by Nick Fancher Fresh on the heels of 2021's fantastic The Path of the Clouds , Marissa Nadler is set to release a new EP The Wrath of the Clouds. It's made up of three originals that were originally written for the album and two covers. The first single is one of the covers: The Alessi Brothers' "Seabird." The Alessi Brothers are an artist I'm not familiar with at all, but a tiny bit of research tells me that they're a late 70's soft rock duo. Marissa Nadler covering 70's soft rock is intriguing at the very least, especially since she's a master of dark and moody ethereal indie rock. Nadler's version of "Seabird" is a blast. It's far more pop than anything I've ever heard her release previously, but keeps that Marissa Nadler vibe enough that her long standing fans are still going to love it. After a release as dark as The Path of the Clouds , it's nice to see Nadler let loose and have fun on a song. You can list...

There's nothing quite like a good murder ballad, and no one is going to do one quite like Marissa Nadler. Her latest single, "Couldn't Have Done the Killing," surpasses what we would normally describe as haunting. It's a completely modern take on the murder ballad, with Nadler's vocals sounding more hypnotic than they ever have. It's filled with distorted twanging guitars and a lush wall of sound that completely encompasses the listener. It's a gloriously beautiful song even as it tries to push you away at times. It all ends with a wonderfully discordant indie rock guitar solo. If you aren't fully on board with being a Marissa Nadler stan (the kids still say stan, right?) by the end of this one, you have no soul. You can watch the Unsolved Mysteries  and In Search of... inspired video for "Couldn't Have Done the Killing" below. The Path of the Clouds  is due out October 29 on Sacred Bones and Bella Union. You can pre-order/pre-save th...

Photo by Nick Fancher We're obviously huge Marissa Nadler fans here at If It's Too Loud..., and her latest single is making us even more rabid. "If I Could Breathe Underwater" is this brilliantly lush and cinematic song. It's an unbelievably gorgeous song that feels like floating. It's spacey and ethereal, with the music perfectly fitting Nadler's dreamy vocals. Plus, there is this odd, disjointed almost surf like guitar helping to tie the whole thing together with harp. Nadler's music has always been painfully beautiful, but "If I Could Breathe Underwater" is a whole new level. Marissa Nadler says of the new song: “ When I wrote ‘If I Could Breathe Underwater,’ I was contemplating the possibilities of possessing various superhuman powers: teleportation, shapeshifting, energy projection, aquatic breathing, extrasensory perception, and time travel to name a few.  As a lyrical device, I married those powers with events in my life, wondering if ...

Photo by Nick Fancher Marissa Nadler has kept herself busy during the pandemic. Suddenly experiencing wanderlust while being stuck at home. She learned to play the piano, and wrote many of the songs on her upcoming album on piano instead of her usual guitar. She also binged a lot of reruns of Unsolved Mysteries , which helped inspire the first single from the album. "Bessie, Did You Make It?" takes the standard murder ballad and makes it about female empowerment and survival. "Bessie, Did You Make It?" is haunting (This is a murder ballad by Marissa Nadler, after all), but it's also strangely warm. If you can imagine that instead of a cold spot, ghosts created an ideally warm, comfy hug, you can imagine the texture of this song. You can watch the video for "Bessie, Did You Make It?" below. The Path of the Clouds is due out October 29 on Sacred Bones and Bella Union. You can pre-order your copy here . For more on Marissa Nadler, check out the artist...

How familiar am I with The Fleetwoods? I had assumed it was a shorthand for Fleetwood Mac. Turns out The Fleetwoods were a late 50's/60's vocal/doo wop group. Their song "Mr. Blue" has been covered by the pairing of Nicole Atkins and Marissa Nadler. The pairing of Atkins and Nadler is perfect for a 60's doo wop song. Atkins has a more pop sound while Nadler's ethereal folk-ish music combines naturally for a song like "Mr. Blue." This new cover isn't a note for note perfect version of The Fleetwoods' original, but it's as close as you're going to get while updating the song for 2021. It's a gorgeous cover that is going to send you diving into the catalogs of Nicole Atkins, Marissa Nadler, and The Fleetwoods. You can listen to Nicole Atkins and Marissa Nadler covering "Mr. Blue" below. Right now it's available as a single via Nadler's Bandcamp , but we can't help but hope this is the start of a larger collabora...

I was worried that the collaboration between Marissa Nadler and Stephen Brodsky was going to end with April's Droneflower , but the pair just released a new single that includes two covers. The main focus seems to be a cover of Phil Collins's "In the Air Tonight," but Lucy Dacus just did her own version (plus, I just really don't like Phil Collins), so I'm going to focus on their version of Extreme's "More Than Words" (and not at all because I'm secretly a huge Extreme fan...) Extreme's "More Than Words" was always unfairly crammed in with hair metal, and was a fairly schlocky attempt to become every single school's prom song. But, for those of us of a certain age, we'll never be able to fully resist it. Marissa Nadler and Stephen Brodsky's version is the bizarro freak-folk, trippy, droned out version we never knew we wanted. It's kinda awkward and not always a 100% pleasant listen, but it could also be comp...

Another fairly busy release week. Artist : SOAK Album : Grim Town Quick Description : New album from a talented singer-songwriter. Why You Should Listen : SOAK's debut was a highlight in 2015. Overall Thoughts : SOAK had one of those sneaky great debuts a number of years ago, and then I hadn’t heard anything for ages. Suddenly? New album, and it is somehow an improvement over an already great sound. Enhanvced production values, somewhat more complicated songs, this ends up being a high-quality listen and a favorite of the week. SOAK bubbled under for much of 2015-2016, and maybe this will be the one to propel her to proper heights. Recommendation : A must-listen this week. Artist : Starflyer 59 Album : Young in My Head Quick Description : Solid alt-rock from a longstanding act. Why You Should Listen : Starflyer 59 has enough longevity to make it worth a listen. Overall Thoughts : For all intents and purposes, I shouldn’t dig this as much as I dig this. Yes, Starf...

Even if it didn't include a cover of Guns n Roses epic song "Estranged," we'd be impossibly intrigued by Droneflower's debut album. Droneflower is the pairing of folk/dream pop artist Melissa Nadler and Stephen Brodsky of metalcore bands like Cave In and Mutoid Man. It's not a pairing I ever thought we'd see, but the two became friends when Brodsky went to see Nadler on tour, which lead to the formation of Droneflower.  For their cover of "Estranged," Droneflower cut the song down by two minutes. It still clocks in at over seven minutes, so they kept most of the epic scope. It leans more towards Nadler's artistic output than it does Cave In. It's haunting folk, but there is more of an edge and noise lingering than you might expect. It's folk with an unexpected menace and droning guitars. This is such an interesting pairing, and we can't wait to hear more. You can listen to Droneflower's cover of "Estranged" bel...

Sometimes you don't know you need something until you actually have it. That's the case with Marissa Nadler's duet with The Velvet Underground's John Cale. It seems like the song was written by Nadler without the knowledge that she'd be joined by Cale. Nadler says of the song: “Sometimes it's best not to know in advance; that's what I continually remind myself about how this duet with legendary songwriter John Cale came together .  Had I known that Justin and Lawrence would arrange for Cale to sing ‘Poison’ with me before I wrote or recorded it, I cannot be certain I wouldn't have become frozen with hesitations and second-guessing. How do you even start to go about writing a duet with a member of the Velvet Underground?   Surely I might have nervously changed the lyric that accidentally namechecks a title of a Velvet Underground song (‘Run Run Run’), at the very least. For me, Cale is one of the most influential rock musicians, remaining admirably ha...

Artist : Aurora Album : Infections of a Different Kind Quick Description : Why You Should Listen : Overall Thoughts : I think what is interesting about this mini-album is how seemingly fully-formed Aurora came to us. There is a difference between being stuck in a rut, like we see with countless acts on follow-ups to successful efforts, and pushing the boundaries of what clearly worked in a debut. The strength of this is in its cohesion – there aren’t any songs that jump out as individual pieces as we got with the first full-length, but it’s a better unit of songs in comparison. Fans will like it, newcomers will like it, there’s nothing wrong with this. Recommendation : Artist : Miss World Album : Keeping Up With Miss World Quick Description : Sugary sweet rock straight out of the garage. Why You Should Listen : You need something to change/maintain your peppy disposition. Overall Thoughts : Bubblegummy poppy rock music that just makes me happy. There’s not a lot more to...

Photo by Cara Robbins Boston's Marissa Nadler is back with a new, very 90's reminiscent single. "I Can't Listen to Gene Clark Anymore" reminds me of the more ethereal side of the Lilith Fair. It's filled with very quiet, dreamlike instrumentation over soft, lush vocals. The song is about how certain musicians can be so connected to certain points in your life that you can't listen to them any longer without being transported to that time period. For Nadler it's Gene Clark. The song is filled with beauty, and not always the happy kind. Plus, Nadler brings in Sharon Van Etten in for backing vocals, giving the song an even more compelling depth. It's a beautiful song full of minimal orchestration, if such a thing is even possible. You can listen to "I Can't Listen to Gene Clark Anymore" below. For My Crimes , the new album from Marissa Nadler, will be out September 28 on Sacred Bones and Bella Union. You can pre-order a copy via Ba...

With a glut of new releases this week, this will be a two-parter. Album of the Week : Artist : Marissa Nadler Album : Strangers Quick Description : Latest album from the dark folkie. Why You Should Listen : Nadler is criminally underrated. Overall Thoughts : I don't know exactly when Strangers truly clicked for me, but it was midway through when I realized that this was a definite step up from her previous album and as good as anything else she's put out. There's still the ethereal tones throughout, and her airy, haunting melodies make it worthwhile, but I'll keep coming back to this because it feels a little more accessible in some ways. Will this be her breakthrough? I hope so, but this is a solid listen nonetheless. Recommendation : A great listen, best of the week. Artist : Tim Heidecker Album : In Glendale Quick Description : A rock album with some comedic undertones from the anti-comedy star. Why You Should Listen : You're a fan of Heidecker...