“Cradle The Pain” by Morgan Nagler: The Beginning of Something Important

I love unexpected musical discoveries. I realize this might sound like a paradox, but let me explain. For a musical discovery to happen, there are usually planned, boring things that need to be done—searching through playlists and blogs, scraping through the email inbox, etc. This time, it was different.

It was an easy Friday afternoon when I scrolled through my social media and came across Bethany Cosentino's stories. (I’ve followed her and her band Best Coast for years now, as they’re one of my favorite rock bands, especially from the surf subgenre.) Among the mixed content she shared—from her beautiful moments as a first-time mom to the devastating news about the Los Angeles fires—there was one post that caught my eye and ear.

It was a link to the debut single by Morgan Nagler, “Cradle The Pain.” And I loved it from the very beginning. If you’ve stuck around until this point and survived my enormously long intro, let me tell you more about this discovery.

“Cradle The Pain” is a heartfelt, nostalgic piece that begins with surfy guitars and crashes into you like an ocean wave, washing away everything you’re sad about or afraid of in the past. I know I might sound a bit cliché at times, but this song really touched me.

I can’t help but mention that stylistically, it reminded me a lot of Best Coast—so it’s no wonder Bethany loved it as well. (Not to mention, it seems like they know each other personally, from what I gathered.) By diving a little deeper into the artist, I found in her bio that even more big names are connected to her. Morgan has collaborated with Phoebe Bridgers, HAIM, and others, as well as played in Whispertown.

But let’s not dwell too much on big names here—music has to speak for itself, right? “Cradle The Pain” speaks very clearly, and my main takeaway after playing the song on repeat and learning about its creator is this: music heals. Morgan’s story, which includes a difficult breakup she mentions, seems to have given way to something more positive—and this feels like the start of a new musical chapter for her. As she herself describes it, this is “the beginning of something important.”

I’ll eagerly wait to see what she puts out next. In the meantime, listen to this song on IndieWave FM’s Spotify playlist, Laid-back Indie Rock.