Song of the Day: Marissa Nadler - Janie In Love

Every Monday through Friday, we deliver a different song as part our Song of the Day podcast subscription. This podcast features exclusive KEXP in-studio performances, unreleased songs, and recordings from independent artists that our DJs think you should hear. Today’s song, featured on the Midday Show with Cheryl Waters, is “Janie in Love” by Marissa Nadler from her 2016 album, Strangers, on Sacred Bones Records.

Marissa Nadler - Janie in Love (MP3)

Marissa Nadler’s rain-streaked melodies intertwine with tear-stained narratives in her latest album, Strangers. The seasoned singer-songwriter artfully utilized Seattle’s illustrious cloud cover as the backdrop to fine-tune her seventh full-length album, for a skillful marriage of American folk and gothic dream pop with a prevailing sentimentality of inner strive. Nadler, a Massachusetts native, traversed the country to record Strangers, her second standout collaboration with Seattle-based producer Randall Dunn, known for his work with Sunn O))), Wolves in the Throne Room, and Earth.

Determined to deliver genre-bending music and break away from the idea of modern folk as amateurish “coffeeshop music,” Marissa Nadler has carved out her own distinct sound, one that has evolved over a decade of writing, performing, and recording. By combining ethereal instrumentation and experimental synth with a crosscurrent of folk sensibility, she weaves stories together with musical dynamism to invoke an ambiance of brooding emotional tribulation. The intense narrative running through Strangers offers an intimate look at love and tragedy, both in contemplation and triumph.

In “Janie in Love,” the lead single from Strangers, textured synths collide with resonant guitar riffs, as Marissa Nadler’s sweetly haunting voice murmurs “You're a natural disaster / And I'm watching you to blow up everything.” The down-beat, dreamy tempo conveys an enduringly wistful innocence, even as Nadler warns of the impending disaster love can bring. Turn up the volume and let Nadler’s resonant sound and apocalyptic mood engulf you.

Marissa Nadler recently performed a solo set, opening for Black Mountain on tour and is now heading to Europe for more shows, but she'll be back later this summer, with a band, performing in Seattle at Barboza on August 8. Look for more dates and music on her website and Facebook page. For now, check out the official video for "All the Colors of the Dark," another track from Strangers, directed and animated in stop-motion by Nadler herself: