Album Review—Nomadica

Nomadica: A Musical Journey of Healing the Memory to Transform Grief and Revive the Spirit

Nomadica is a rare kind of musical experiment where the artist turns grief into an immersive world to revive the spirit. In the dreamlike landscapes Carla Patullo creates in these tracks, voices, strings, ambient electronics, and field textures move like tides of memory. The strategy is simple yet powerful. Personally, I am stunned by how the visionary treats the human voice as a sacred instrument. The choral lines hover like prayers, while strings and subtle pulses carry emotion without crowding it. At times, the music feels intimate, expanding to cinematic scale in others. As a result, the listener is transported between feeling grounded and lifted. This innovative vocabulary bridges the gap between cultures and imbues the work with a universal quality. The listener journeys through a soundscape that feels both familiar and new, experiencing diverse emotions such as loss, connection, and healing.

The Artist

Carla Patullo is a composer, producer, and songwriter who effortlessly works across film scores, ambient music, and experimental songs. Her themes frequently explore memory, identity, and renewal. A grandmother’s request to record her voice planted a seed that later grew into projects where the voice becomes a vessel for remembrance. So She Howls brought her wide recognition, confirming her rare gift of turning vulnerability into art. Nomadica continues that arc. It revisits the sudden loss of her mother in a car accident and imagines the conversations they never had. In this sense, the album functions as both a personal ritual and a generous invitation. It reveals an artist who trusts emotion, honors silence, and has the rare ability to shape both into music.

The team and the cultural conversation

The depth of the music in Nomadica ensues from the power of its collaboration. The Scorchio Quartet brings lifelike quality to the strings through Lorenza Ponce, Frederika Krier, Leah Coloff, and founder and artistic director Martha Mooke. The vocal ensemble Tonality, led by Alexander Lloyd Blake, adds luminous choral layers that feel timeless. Martha Wainwright appears as a featured singer and co-writer on one of the most intimate tracks. Production and recording details reflect the same care. Much of the album was composed and produced at The Soundry in Los Angeles. Scorchio was recorded at Jungle City Studios in New York with engineer Brendan Morawski. Tonality recorded at The Soundry with engineer Xiaoyi Ying. Martha Wainwright’s vocals were recorded at Utopia Studios in Woodstock by Jeremy Backofen. Mixing and mastering by Daniel Kresco gives the record clarity without losing warmth. The resulting East–West conversation respects tradition and welcomes invention. Everyone on the team does a fantastic job narrating the story.

Independent Track Reviews

1. Our Love Is

Shimmering strings and electronic undercurrents set the tone for the opening track. Wordless vocal layers give it an ethereal lift. The choral inflections playing subtly add a dreamlike resonance, filling the space between instrumental soundscape and human expression.

2. Nomadica

The title track, Nomadica, is a journey through shifting rhythms and progressive textures. Here, Carla attempts to strike a balance between instrumental layering and restrained vocal presence. The voices sound more like sonic colors than lyrics, blending into the orchestral fabric. The listener gets to experience a sense of movement and wandering.

3. Arrival (feat. Lorenza Ponce, the Scorchio Quartet & Tonality)

In Arrival, Tonality’s choral backdrop frames the string quartet and Ponce’s violin. In this track, we see the wordless, floating, and textural voices functioning like an additional instrument, leaving us with the feeling of anticipation and awe upon our virtual arrival in an unknown land.

4. A Handblown World (feat. Lorenza Ponce, the Scorchio Quartet & Tonality)

Seemingly shaped with extreme care, this track feels delicate and fragile. The choral voices gain prominence in this song, weaving through the strings like luminous streaks of light. With their presence, the sound assumes a handmade quality, which helps underscore the fragility of a handblown world.

5. Undercurrent (feat. Leah Coloff, the Scorchio Quartet & Tonality)

Cello lines anchor this song in a deep, meditative space. Like hidden tides, Tonality’s voices echo beneath the surface. The vocals have a hushed and atmospheric quality, never dominating but reminding the listener of some unseen energies flowing below.

6. Isochronic Waves (feat. Frederika Krier, the Scorchio Quartet & Tonality)

In this piece, the composition leans on rhythmic pulses and repeating figures. The strings move in layered patterns that mimic the oscillations of waves. Their textures bestow a hypnotic quality, suggesting constancy and flux at once.

7. Lightning (feat. Martha Mooke, the Scorchio Quartet & Tonality)

The sharp and brilliant electric viola flares up in this track. Against this backdrop, Tonality’s vocals rise and fall like thunderclouds gathering in the distance. The combination assumes a dramatic quality using instrumentals as flash and voices as storm.

8. Below the Surface

This is one of the most introspective tracks in the album, stripping back the choral layers to allow instruments to speak more directly. Vocals make a sparing appearance, almost as ghostly echoes, heightening the submerged and contemplative mood of the piece.

9. Fly Under (with Martha Wainwright)

This piece is the emotional core of the album. Martha Wainwright’s unmistakable voice enters the scene with lyrical clarity. Unlike the wordless choral textures of earlier tracks, her singing provides narrative weight and human vulnerability. Carla herself notes that hearing Wainwright’s voice “hits me every time,” and the track indeed feels like a release of emotion after the long instrumental journey.

Take Away

Nomadica is a beautifully realized album in contemporary music that shows how music can hold memory without fixing it in place. As a reviewer, I admire the patience and skill behind these compositions and am strongly moved by their courage. For any earnest listener immersing in these tracks, the album offers a rich and restorative experience of rare quality. It demonstrates that fusion can highlight emotion rather than showiness, and collaboration can strengthen a single voice without overwhelming it. I recommend this album to anyone who believes that sound can heal, connect, and renew. Listening to Nomadica is an invitation to understand what compassionate music can achieve.