Crocodile Presents: Natalie Bergman

Friday 03/18/22The Crocodile Presents:NATALIE BERGMAN+ Opener$16ADV / $18 DOS9pm Doors21+ Mercy is Natalie Bergmans debut, a self-produced solo album recorded in the strangest of times, during a personal period of profound sadness and reinvention. Its startling, and often beautiful — a rush to the edge of the cliff, with an unflinching look belowRecorded at her brothers home studio in Los Angeles, CA, Bergman has already had a lengthy, successful career as one half of the brother-sister duo Wild Belle, but this is the first time she wrote and played all the material.This record absolutely pulses with redemptive power; it is replenishing and original, and deeply cathartic. And before we go any further, you should know that this is kind of a gospel record.Bergman comes to this material naturally. Her first musical loves were church songs, especially the sing-song-y, repetitive hymns. Ive always written songs about Jesus, she says. Im not afraid of it; this album is my take on gospel music. Her voice really works the upper registers in a manner occasionally similar to 1930s blues vocalists, or perhaps Badu. But theres nothing retro about the way she multi-tracks her voice and self-harmonizes in sweet, lofty chords.It should also be said — Natalie made this record because she absolutely had to.The music of Mercy began to germinate a few months after she lost her father in a wrong-way, head-on collision. He and her stepmother were killed by a drunk driver. Shortly after, Natalie visited a monastery in the southwestern desert, and there she began to embark on this album.Loosely, we can draw parallels to the more avant garde Christian expressions which sprung up in the wake of the Jesus movement — particularly with 1973s otherworldly record of original devotional songs, Fire of Gods Love (reissued in 2018 by Wyrd War) by the ethereal-voiced Sister Irene OConnor. But Bergman is no nun, and her music is far more sensual than OConnors.The first song I wrote on Mercy was Home At Last, she says. It is the best song I have ever written. I sing a lot about home on this record. Believing in that place has been my greatest consolation. I had an urgency and desperation to know that my father was there. His sudden death was a whirling chaos that assaulted my mind. This album provided me with my only hope for coming back to life myself. Gospel music brings hope. It is the good news; its exemplary. It can bring you truth. It can keep you alive. These songs have kind of written themselves, and they rely on me to sing them.Natalie Bergman made one of the first great albums of 2021.Clock Out Lounge Covid-19 Vaccination Policy:We require vaccination and proof in the form of your vaccination card or a photo of your card, matching your name and birthdate. If unable to provide or if unvaccinated, we require proof of a negative Covid-19 test, from within 48 hours of entry to the event Masks are required while indoors regardless of vaccine status. You may remove your mask while actively consuming a beverage, but we ask that you promply reapply your mask and continue to wear it throughout the performance.