The
Wrath of the Clouds is a new five song EP from
Marissa Nadler featuring two covers and three previously unreleased tracks written during the same period as her critically lauded album from 2021,
The Path of the Clouds. This period was a fruitful and prolific time for Nadler and after mixing and mastering last years’ full length that featured guest appearances from
Emma Ruth Rundle, Mary Lattimore, and
Amber Webber to name a few, Nadler rediscovered a few songs she had written during this time and said it felt like “like uncovering lost gems that I had forgotten about.” She thought they fit together sonically and conceptually with the two cover songs she had been eagerly waiting to record so she went back to the studio and the result is a beautiful release as rich and essential as its predecessor.
The three original tracks on the album all swim in similar thematic waters to her last release. The intoxicating “Guns on the Sundeck” is a stunning nearly seven-minute-long epic written from the point of view of the said to be haunted Queen Mary ship. Throughout the song, “she” details the horrors and the highlights of her years on land and sea. “All the Eclipses” sees the return of
Black Mountain’s Amber Webber as a featured guest and the two use the song’s waltzing tempo to lull you under their spell. Nadler says the lyrics were written to feel “like walking around the aftermath of a fire, after the embers burn out. It's looking at the sky and seeing what remains…” which is captured perfectly in the ethereal voices swirling around you while a deep guitar dirge burns in the center. In “Some Secret Existence” she layers her voice atop sparse but tasteful guitar work and illustrates her ability to build a dense and beautiful world with not much more than her harmonies.
Marissa Nadler is known for many things including her ability to make any cover song her own with her unique style. The EP closes out with two covers of which Nadler said: “Once I had finished the album, these two covers that I have included were on the top of my list. Once I heard "Seabird" for the first time, I just couldn’t get it out of my head. I love that song so much and I had to cover it. It was a different kind of singing for me and really fun to do. Saunders Ferry Lane is one of my all-time favorite songs. I fell in love with Sammi Smith’s haunting version years ago and have always wanted to do a proper cover of it. Milky Burgess and Joshua Grange play on both cover songs. These were a really nice capping off to the season of this writing. The Wrath of the Clouds!”
Out now in collaboration with our friends at Bella Union.
