Dallas-based singer-songwriter Nicole Marxen has finally released her much-awaited full-length album, Thorns, which follows the success of her impactful pre-release singles “The Executioner” and the self-titled song; the latter accompanied by a music video.
For the production of the album, Nicole reunited with producer Alex Bhore – known for his work on Halo Infinite Multiplayer and Meow Wolf Grapevine. Together, they have crafted a rich sonic album that explores dreams, disorders, and peoples’ collective dwindling focus amid a faltering patriarchy.
The title track is sung like a haunted confessional, diving into Nicole’s personal struggles with Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors (BFRBs) – a lesser-known impulse disorder characterised by unconscious self-harming acts often used as a trauma response to self-regulate.
Another notable track on the album is the aforementioned, “The Executioner”, which reflects on the repercussions of the shutdown of Dallas’s largest advertising agency, The Richards Group, on Nicole’s professional life in commercial production. The song questions the effects of failures by powerful men: “What happens to the rest of us when men of power mess up? Is the patriarchy truly disarmed, or just morphing to placate us temporarily?”
“I didn’t want to pretend to have all the answers but instead to reflect on what was surfacing for me in the moment of each song.” — Nicole Marxen
Speaking further on the release of the album, Nicole explained her approach to songwriting and the thematic content of the album: “It was important for me to engage with this material imperfectly,” she says. “As a songwriter, there’s often a pressure to say something profound or to reach a resolution.”
Nicole’s “Thorns” is an album that invites listeners to move beyond nursing the wounds of human experience and to root themselves in the wild, flawed beauty of our existence.
