Can we get back to you about this one in, say, four or five months? It’s just that we’ve been listening to Strangers pretty hardcore for a while, and it feels like each new spin of this subtle, spooky astral folk reveals fresh layers and textures. If we sign off on this one now, we’re sure to miss something epic. Marissa Nadler’s sixth studio record finds the Boston-based singer creating beautiful, sweeping songs that feel as ethereal as the last dream before dawn.
Tunes like “Hungry Is The Ghost” and “Shadow Show Diane” float through the space between goth and folk, experimental and symphonic. “All The Colors Of The Dark” and “Nothing Feels The Same” drift through fog-shrouded cemeteries, unfolding like a tarot reading, existing simultaneously in the past, present and future. Nadler is able to meld a number of traditions—narrative and musical—into a forward-thinking album of startling beauty.
—Sean L. Maloney