July
4 February 2014
Sacred Bones
3.5 stars out of 5
July is Boston
The beautifully haunting opening track, “Drive,” immediately
plunges the listener into a world where even the most subtle instrumental
embellishments have meaning. Nadler’s solo acoustic guitar carries most of the
weight; the distant strings and pedal steel are quiet accompaniments meant to
emphasize rather than to unnecessarily fill out the sound. “Firecrackers”
is a lonely Hollywood musical show tune
stripped down to acoustic guitar and Nadler’s at once mournful and ecstatic
voice. “We Are Coming Back” snakes through shadowy, leaf-strewn terrain in
search of its prey. The excellent “Dead City Emily” is every moody and tense
film score combined into one. “Desire” floats in the same ethereal mist-filled
desolate meadows as much of Nadler’s other work. This is not to say it’s
repetitive. Nadler’s music works well precisely because of these qualities and
stops working as well when she attempts more “upbeat” compositions. Another case
in point is the folk noir “Anyone
Else,” which could be from the soundtrack to a mythical third season of Twin Peaks . Not
all of the LP is as uniformly strong as these tracks, and the album has its
lulls and less captivating moments in between the riveting ones.
“Maybe it’s the weather, but I got nothing in my heart,”
sings Nadler on the closing track. I respectfully disagree. This album is full
of emotion, propelled by Nadler’s trademark room-silencing vocals. It’s a solid
if not quite great effort, but contains plenty of moments to make it worth
listening to more than once.
reviewed by Richard Krueger
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