Marissa Nadler released a new video for “Bessie, Did You Make It?” this week. Transforming the typical murder ballad into a tale of female empowerment, the song is off the musician’s forthcoming LP The Path of the Clouds, due out October 29th via Sacred Bones/Bella Union. Mitch Wells (Thou) directs the video effort for the track, which also features animations from Nadler. Utilizing images rich in metaphor, including entrancing visuals of a swimmer in deep water, the video echos the struggles of the song’s protagonist with compelling and cryptic footage.
Nadler reports that she passed her time during quarantine by learning to play piano, becoming deeply involved in her songwriting, and binge-watching reruns of Unsolved Mysteries. Fascinated by the show’s narratives and the parallels they held with her own life, the series became foundational to her songwriting process for the album. This writing also found her turning to the piano rather than guitar, as a primary composition mode, with the musician eventually tracking the songs at home.
Nadler would go on to send those sketches to a collection of collaborators, including experimental harpist Mary Lattimore, Cocteau Twins bassist Simon Raymonde, multi-instrumentalist Milky Burgess, singer-songwriter Emma Ruth Rundle, Black Mountain member Amber Webber as well as Nadler’s piano teacher Jesse Chandler (Mercury Rev and Midlake), who all made contributions. After Nadler’s self-production and the inclusion of other collaborators, The Path of Clouds was finally mixed by Seth Manchester at Machines with Magnets in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.
You can pre-order Marissa Nadler’s LP The Path of Clouds here.
