American musician and visual artist Nicole Marxen streams her highly anticipated full-length album »Thorns«

Dallas, Texas based musician and visual artist Nicole Marxen has just released her highly anticipated full-length album »Thorns« on August 9th, 2024.

Listen to »Thorns« on all major streaming services!

Tracklist:
01. Path Of Fire
02. Blood Of Mine
03. Thorns
04. Dark Water
05. Ride
06. Hang The Moon
07. Lullaby
08. Fever Dream
09. The Executioner
10. Destroyer

Courtesy of Clarion Call Media:

“Sonically landing somewhere between Kavinsky and Cold Cave.” – Flood Magazine

“We’re excited to see her star climb ever-higher with this important, innovative solo endeavor.” – Dallas Observer

“Nicole Marxen’s voice has Zola Jesus’ and Kate Bush’s sonic echoes in abundance, full of promise, mystery, and danger for the unwary.” – Analogue Trash

Last Friday, Dallas-based acclaimed singer-songwriter and visual artist Nicole Marxen released her highly anticipated full-length album, »Thorns«. Available for pre-order on limited edition vinyl and digitally, the album follows the success of her pre-release singles »The Executioner« and »Thorns«, along with its accompanying video directed by Judd Myers. In anticipation of Friday’s release date, »Thorns« is currently streaming in full at Flood Magazine.

Nicole Marxen shared the inspiration behind »Thorns« with Flood Magazine:

“I started writing this record during lockdown. We were still mixing my first EP and the wound of my mother’s death had been freshly reopened. I didn’t want to use music as escapism like I had in the past, I felt this nudge to lean into discomfort. I see each song as a different thorn; its truth stings, yet beauty persists.”

Nicole Marxen’s 2021 debut solo EP, »Tether«, garnered praise from Post-Punk.com, CVLT Nation, Audiofemme, and Flood Magazine, and earned a spot on Destroy//Exist’s EPs of the Year list. Described as “draped in shadow, full of cutting synths and gothy, ghostly vocal melodies” (Bandcamp), »Tether« explored themes of grief and introspection.

For »Thorns«, Nicole Marxen reunited with producer Alex Bhore (Halo Infinite Multiplayer, Meow Wolf Grapevine). 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 question – 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 U.S. 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.

RIYL: Chelsea Wolfe, King Woman, Emma Ruth Rundle

Bojan Bidovc // music enthusiast, promoter, misanthrop and sometimes a journalist as well