photo by Daven Martinez
The arterial sonic tautness of "Thorns", by Dallas-Texas based award winning, indie singer songwriter / visual artist Nicole Marxen, is real. I can feel it creeping in my psyche, at least (thankfully) just breaking the surface but enough to engender an emotional itchiness. I can tell you that if I listened to "Thorns" late at night while staring at the ceiling, I might have a tendency to hear things and may end up searching my home while holding the the claw hammer that I keep in between the bed and the end table. The textures are hazy, the electronic glitchy percussions gnaw at you and Marxen's beautifully dark shoegaze-esque vocals if not so eerie might be suited for baroque pop (maybe this sound is ironically broken baroque pop - traumatized).
"Thorns" is the title track from her upcoming sophomore album dropping August 9th, 2024 and is paired with a truly stunning Official Video as directed / edited by Judd Myers.
LINER NOTES (bracketed):
On the video director Judd Myers says:
“Channeling themes of cycles and compulsion, 'Thorns' is a liminal, giallo-tinged portrait about the transformation that arises in reuniting with what we’ve pushed into the dark.”
“Channeling themes of cycles and compulsion, 'Thorns' is a liminal, giallo-tinged portrait about the transformation that arises in reuniting with what we’ve pushed into the dark.”
[Her 2021 solo debut Tether received acclaim from Post-punk.com, CVLT Nation, Audiofemme, and FLOOD Magazine, while earning a spot on Destroy//Exist’s EPs of the Year list. A meditation on the grieving process, Tether inhabits a realm “draped in shadow, full of cutting synths and gothy, ghostly vocal melodies” (Bandcamp).]
[Producer Alex Bhore (Halo Infinite Multiplayer and Meow Wolf Grapevine) returns to the helm for Marxen’s sophomore release, as the two weave a sonic tapestry spanning dreams, disorders, and our own failing attention amidst a crumbling, clawing patriarchy. Sung like a haunted confessional, the title track explores Marxen’s lived experience with lesser-known impulse disorder Body Focused Repetitive Behaviors. BFRBs involve acts of unconsciously harming the body, and often serve as a trauma response to self-regulate. She equates these acts to sabotage, “like a rabid animal / my body betrays itself.”]
[Through a more collective lens, the song “The Executioner” witnesses the fallout in Marxen’s professional career of commercial production after the cancellation of the largest advertising agency in Dallas, The Richards Group. It begs the questions - what happens to the rest of us when men of power fuck up? Is the patriarchy disarmed, or merely shapeshifting to satisfy us in the here and now?]
[“It was important for me to show up to this material imperfectly,” Marxen says. “As a songwriter, I can put a lot of pressure on myself, often feeling like I have to say something profound or reach a kind of resolve. I didn’t want to pretend to have answers here, but rather notice what was coming up for me during each song’s moment in time.” With Thorns, Marxen encourages us to no longer accept such tendencies to gnaw at the wounds of our human experience, but rather root into the wild garden of our flawed and beautiful being.]
[Nicole has toured throughout the United States, and opened for William Basinski, Cold Cave, and Marissa Nadler. Her previous band, Midnight Opera, was awarded “Best Group Act” from Dallas Observer in 2018.]
[Producer Alex Bhore (Halo Infinite Multiplayer and Meow Wolf Grapevine) returns to the helm for Marxen’s sophomore release, as the two weave a sonic tapestry spanning dreams, disorders, and our own failing attention amidst a crumbling, clawing patriarchy. Sung like a haunted confessional, the title track explores Marxen’s lived experience with lesser-known impulse disorder Body Focused Repetitive Behaviors. BFRBs involve acts of unconsciously harming the body, and often serve as a trauma response to self-regulate. She equates these acts to sabotage, “like a rabid animal / my body betrays itself.”]
[Through a more collective lens, the song “The Executioner” witnesses the fallout in Marxen’s professional career of commercial production after the cancellation of the largest advertising agency in Dallas, The Richards Group. It begs the questions - what happens to the rest of us when men of power fuck up? Is the patriarchy disarmed, or merely shapeshifting to satisfy us in the here and now?]
[“It was important for me to show up to this material imperfectly,” Marxen says. “As a songwriter, I can put a lot of pressure on myself, often feeling like I have to say something profound or reach a kind of resolve. I didn’t want to pretend to have answers here, but rather notice what was coming up for me during each song’s moment in time.” With Thorns, Marxen encourages us to no longer accept such tendencies to gnaw at the wounds of our human experience, but rather root into the wild garden of our flawed and beautiful being.]
[Nicole has toured throughout the United States, and opened for William Basinski, Cold Cave, and Marissa Nadler. Her previous band, Midnight Opera, was awarded “Best Group Act” from Dallas Observer in 2018.]
I can only imagine that "Thorns", the album will be a subversive ride and I will cross my fingers in hopes of each and every song having an equally subversive Official Video. Is that selfish of me? Yeah, I think so.
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://nicolemarxen.bandcamp.com/album/tether
https://www.instagram.com/nicomarxen
https://www.facebook.com/nicolemarxenmusic
https://x.com/nicolemarxen
https://www.nicolemarxen.com/
Nicole Marxen is an award-winning, independent singer-songwriter and visual artist from Dallas, TX.
A touring musician of almost two decades, Marxen made her solo debut in 2021 with EP Tether. Later that year, she starred as the protagonist in Helium Queens: A Space Opera, a 20-person theatrical production written and directed by the Polyphonic Spree’s Poppy Xander. She’s recorded with Grammy-winning producer, John Congleton, and continues to work out of his studio with composer Alex Bhore (Halo Multiplayer Infinite and Meow Wolf Grapevine).
Nicole is a several time Official SXSW Showcasing Artist and has opened for William Basinski, Cold Cave, and Marissa Nadler. Her first full-length album, Thorns is due August 9th, 2024.
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