July

It’s taken this otherworldly singer/songwriter six albums to find herself at the center of the songs. Perhaps it isn’t her failed love she sings of throughout July, but that’s highly doubtful given the intimacy shared here; her lyrics previously shied from telling us anything too concrete. The production by Randall Dunn, whose previous credits include doom-drone-metal gods Earth and Sunn O))), focuses on Nadler’s vocals and works the instrumentation from there. Heavy reverb continues to envelop her every note, but Eyvind Kang’s strings, Steve Moore’s synths, and Phil Wandscher’s supportive guitars never intrude with the conversation she’s having with her ex-lover. Songs such as “Drive” and “1923” maintain a placid front, with the stirring “Dead City Emily” and “Was It a Dream” cranking up the intensity with multi-tracked vocals that battle one another, like sirens fighting for their song. Gentle fingerpicked guitars lure one into the cauldron of “Desire.” Like a chamber-folk mass intended as the final conflagration, July hits fever pitch (“Anyone Else”) before settling into “Nothing in My Heart,” where only time will tell what truly remains.