Sounds Like: Finding the light in the dark.

Songs have the unique ability, more than any other art form, to turn the dark into the light. Have you ever noticed some of our prettiest music is born from the darkest places? It’s a sleigh-of-hand that requires real artistry, and on “The Path of The Clouds,” Marissa Nadler pulls it off like a grand magician.

Using narratives culled from true crime stories, she has created an album of ethereal beauty that is unlike anything else in her discography. While staying rooted in the atmospheric folk that she normally trades in, “The Path of the Clouds” mixes things up to create one dreamlike track after another.  Her last few albums have gotten more adventures with instrumentation, and here, acting as her own producer for the first time, she pushes the mixes to point where her voice floats behind and above the rest of song.  It’s not distorted, or lost, but it’s not at the forefront in the way it has been on her other albums. It’s incredibly effective, as it positions her as this otherworldly narrator, a greek chorus, who is present to describe the various prison breaks and mysterious disappearances that are unfolding. The record is full of some truly gorgeous moments: from the title track, which evokes true weightlessness, to the “Taller and Taller” refrain of Lemon Queen, which duets with some heartbreaking pedal steel. It makes for an intoxicating listen, and like the best sleight-of-hand, it leaves you dizzy in the best possible way.

Favorite Track: So many beautiful moments on this one, but when the chorus kicks in on the opener, “Bessie did you make it,” I know I need to now listen to whole album, as that refrain just pulls me under, every time.