MARISSA NADLER - New Radiations

Marissa Nadler's albums are a constant appointment with dark, restless worlds. The new record, "New Radiations", neither betrays expectations nor attempts to update the American songwriter's sonic approach. Sparer arrangements and the absence of drums and percussion underline a more earthbound nature, but unease and emotional vulnerability remain central.

The more intimate, crepuscular tone is nonetheless immediately established by the delicate acoustic guitar chords of "It Hits Harder", a song dedicated to the first woman pilot to fly solo around the world, Geraldine Mock, a theme that returns with even greater force in "Weightless Above The Water" (the most intense and vibrant track), whose protagonist is the first female cosmonaut: Valentina Tereshkova.

Marissa Nadler's noir lullabies are now more tender and romantic, as if suspended in a parallel world where David Lynch converses with Lana Del Rey ("Bad Dreams Summertime", "Smoke Screen Selene"), not without country–western echoes ("If It's An Illusion") and alluring cosmic-folk vibrations ("Hatchet Man"). The title track stays true to the folk-noir atmosphere of "New Radiations", but allows itself a scorching Crazy Horse-style finale, in perfect contrast with the mournful country nature of "You Called Her Camillia", the evanescent "To Be The Moon King" and the even more angelic "Light Years".

Recorded in Nashville with friend Roger Moutenot and mixed by Randall Dunn (Earth, Sunn O)))), the album is once again defined by Nadler's mezzo-soprano voice, but also by the guitar work (slide and electric) of Milky Burgess, who is also responsible for the layered synth and keyboard sounds that heighten the ethereal, mystical tone of a project in which torment and bliss slip together.

Despite its title, "New Radiations" is perhaps a record devoid of innovative elements, but predictability never comes at the expense of quality here: fragile yet melodically flawless, these new songs remain deliberately dusty, gaunt. Marissa Nadler is, after all, a singular voice who moves through different moods with a personality that shapes and reshapes already familiar themes."New Radiations" is a romantic album, but also pained, spare, melodically strong, yet listless. The songs follow one another without ever scratching the skin, instead caressing it to work yet another spell, yet another enchantment, a seduction without promises, seemingly less visceral in its lingering within already-familiar folk-noir aesthetics.

It's hard to say what will endure from this new chapter: Marissa Nadler bares herself without committing to a full, irreversible coming out. Mystery and emotional elusiveness remain the protagonists of the most poignant and solitary journey of an artist who refuses to cave to banality or to the demands of an audience hungry for showy effects and impetuous outbursts. Marissa's music is an art form, and for that reason it can't be grasped all at once in its entirety.

"New Radiations" is less a portrait than an auteur's sketch. An album to return to now and then in search of answers, but above all in search of questions.

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28/08/2025