Cinder Well’s Amelia Baker has always found beauty in the places where darkness and light coexist. Which is pretty much everywhere. “Of Nettles And Roses” may be her most intimate meditation on that common duality yet. A standout track on her new LP, A Blooming Body (Hen House), it pairs Baker’s lush folk arrangements with lyrics that convey compassion for an earlier version of herself.
“There’s both a sharpness and delicate beauty in the unknown,” says the Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. “This song is a brief poem to that sentiment, with a melody that feels cathartic to me.”
Recorded with Harlan Steinberger at his Hen House Studios in Venice, Calif., the album’s malleable template favors richly textured arrangements over linear narratives. Often eerily stark, its eight tracks unfold as a series of interconnected vignettes that invite listeners into a world where silence has its own unsettling implications.
The video for “Of Nettles And Roses” was shot by filmmaker Stacy Lee on hand-processed Super 8 film. Mirroring the song’s immersive emotional terrain with tactile imagery that’s fragile and timeless, Lee’s non-literal approach to the subject matter serves as a sort of emotional companion piece.
“I fell in love with ‘Of Nettles And Roses’ the first time I heard it,” says Lee. “There was something nebulous and emotionally expansive in it, and I felt the need to respond to through images. The film grew out of the feelings the song brought up for me, especially the strange delight that grief and release can bring.”
We’re proud to premiere Cinder Well’s “Of Nettles And Roses” video. A Blooming Body is out now.
See Cinder Well live.
