Marissa Nadler

Marissa Nadler (born April 5, 1981)^[1] is an American musician and fine artist based in Boston, Massachusetts. Active since 2000, she is currently signed to Sacred Bones Records and Bella Union, which released her seventh full-length studio album, Strangers, in May 2016.^[2]. Nadler has released seven full-length commercial albums, seven self-released albums, and two EPs, as well as appearing on many compilations and guesting with a wide variety of artists.

Musical style

As a singer-songwriter, her music defies simple classification. Genres used to describe her music are as disparate as folk, indie rock, dream pop, ambient, Americana, goth and black metal. Her work "is rooted in old-school country and folk but brings in elements of experimental and black metal".^[3] The term "dream folk" was coined to describe her work^[4], and Last.fm lists her as a "gothic folk" singer^[5]. In an interview in 2010, she explained, "I don't feel connected to any scene ... I consider myself a songwriter, and if anything, I identify with guitar players". ^[6] Nadler plays a variety of stringed instruments such as banjo, ukulele, autoharp, dobro and acoustic, electric and 12-string guitars. She has been known to play in open tunings on several songs.

Singing in a mezzo-soprano, Nadler has received critical acclaim for her vocals. Her voice was described by Pitchfork as one "you would follow straight into Hades", and also "textured and angelic, with just a hint of pain captured within her iridescent falsetto".^[7] The Boston Globe said, "She has a voice that, in mythological times, could have lured men to their deaths at sea, an intoxicating soprano drenched in gauzy reverb that hits bell-clear heights, lingers, and tapers off like rings of smoke".^[8]

Another characteristic of her songwriting is the use of reoccurring themes and personages that span across albums, many of which are based on real people in her life. ^[9] In an interview in 2016, Nader admitted, "So many people think, 'Oh, these names are characters.' And I'm like, 'No, they’re not. They’re real people. Every single one of them.' And also, they're all true stories".^[10]

Nadler has cited a number of artists as influences, including Joni Mitchell, Townes Van Zandt, Leonard Cohen and Elliott Smith^[11].

Early life

Marissa Nadler was born and raised in Massachusetts. As a teenager, she taught herself to play guitar in a style similar to fingerpicking, playing a steady bass pattern with the thumb and filling out syncopated rhythms with the index finger.^[8] It was described as having an "unorthodox, dusky sound".^[12] Also while in her teens, she began to write songs as a hobby.^[12]

She studied painting at Rhode Island School of Design, where she obtained a bachelor's degree in illustration in 2003, and a master's degree in art education a year later. During her studies, she began to perform at open mic events around Providence. While exploring artistic techniques such as illustration, painting, bookbinding, woodcarving and encaustic painting, she also honed her songwriting craft.^[8] She subsequently recorded an album titled Autumn Rose (2002) as well as the four-track EP Somber Ghost Recordings (2003), neither of which have ever been released.^[13] Nadler also contributed to the Pearl Before Swine tribute album For the Dead in Space - Volumes II & III in 2003.^[14]

Music career

2004–2010: First releases

Nadler released her first official album, Ballads of Living and Dying, on Eclipse Records in January 2004.^[15] The follow-up, The Saga of Mayflower May, was released in July 2005.^[12] Both records were distributed in the United States by Eclipse, and by the UK label Beautiful Happiness in Europe.^[16]

Nadler went on some of her first tours with acts such as the late American Primitive guitarist Jack Rose and the drone metal band Earth.^[17]

Nadler released her third studio album, Songs III: Bird on the Water, on Peacefrog Records in Europe on March 12, 2007. The album was recorded and produced by Greg Weeks of the band Espers in Philadelphia. and subsequently released in the US and Canada on August 12, 2007 by Kemado Records.^[18] It was nominated for two PLUG Independent Music Awards in 2008: "Best Female Artist of the Year" and "Best Americana Record of the Year". Nadler also won "Outstanding Singer-Songwriter of the Year" at the 2008 Boston Music Awards, with three nominations altogether.

Her fourth full-length album, Little Hells, produced by Chris Coady, was released on March 3, 2009^[19] and received praise from many critics.^[20] including 4-star reviews from magazines such as Mojo, Rolling Stone in France and Germany, Uncut, and Q. It received an 8.3 from Pitchfork.^[21] The album departed from the earlier folk-based template with the introduction of electronic elements.^[12] In early 2010, Nadler contributed vocals on Portal of Sorrow, the final album by black metal project Xasthur.^[22]

2011–2012: Marissa Nadler and The Sister

On June 14, 2011, an eponymous record was released worldwide on Nadler's own label, Box of Cedar Records.^[23] The song "Baby, I Will Leave You in the Morning" was released as a free download on March 8, followed by a subsequent music video.^[24] The album was positively received by Pitchfork, which gave it 8.1 out of 10,^[25] and it was called "a stellar collection of sullen melodies and lovelorn anecdotes akin to those of Joni Mitchell".^[7]

On May 29, 2012, she released The Sister, a short eight-song "companion" album to Marissa Nadler.^[26] The album was dubbed by Paste as an "impressive concoction of stark minimalism".^[7]

In November 2012, Nadler collaborated with Angel Olsen on two cover songs that were shared on Nadler's SoundCloud page: the Richard and Linda Thompson song "My Dreams Have Withered and Died" and the Mickey Newbury song "Frisco Depot".^[27]

2013–2014: Sacred Bones Records and July

In 2013,^[29] she signed to Brooklyn-based Sacred Bones Records.^[30] Her album July was released by the label on February 4, 2014^[31] and on February 10 by Bella Union in the UK.^[32] It was recorded at Seattle's Avast Studios,^[33] and produced by collaborator Randall Dunn.^[34] The first single from the album, "Dead City Emily", was released in November 2013^[29] and positively received by Stereogum as an "ethereal spine-tingler"^[35] and by BrooklynVegan as "a track as haunting and delicate as any of her best tracks to date".^[29] July debuted at No. 16 on the Billboard Folk Albums chart and No. 14 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers Albums chart.^[36][37]

July received mostly positive feedback from music critics. At Metacritic, it received "universal acclaim",^[38] and July received a score of 4 out of 5 from the majority of music publications, among them NME,^[39] Drowned in Sound,^[40] Blurt^[41] and PopMatters,^[42] In a positive review, PopMatters called the album a "triumph" and "one of 2014's best albums so far",^[42] while Spin called it a "masterfully composed release".^[28] Vice Media's Noisey website discussed the atmosphere of the album, writing that "the darkly lit July is a moody trip through heat spells and night drives... Nadler's quiet songwriting and ethereal sound give July a sound that's, at times, almost sinister".^[43] Steven Rosen of Blurt wrote that Nadler managed to achieve an "almost-hallucinatory effect out of her singing, often multi-tracking the voice to create a ghostly pillowing effect".^[41]

In July 2014, Nadler collaborated with Father John Misty, releasing a split 7" on Bella Union.^[44] Father John Misty covered Nadler's "Drive", while Nadler covered "Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings".^[45]

2015–2016: Strangers

The album Strangers, recorded with producer Dunn in 2015, was released on May 20, 2016 on Sacred Bones and Bella Union.^[46] A limited edition version with original artwork included a pre-release cassette of Bury Your Name.^[47]

The album release was accompanied by an extensive tour of North America and Europe. In late 2016, Nadler joined Ghost for the US tour.

Strangers was listed on several lists of 2016's best albums to date, including Spin,^[48] Newsweek,^[49] Uncut^[50] and The Quietus.^[51] Spin also listed "Janie in Love" as one of the best songs of 2016 so far.^[52]

During this period, Nadler directed and animated music videos for Strangers tracks "Janie in Love"^[53] and "All the Colors of the Dark",^[54] as well as "Blood and Tears",^[55] a Danzig cover she had self-released as a digital-only single for Halloween 2015.^[56] In late September 2016, a video for the Strangers song "Dissolve", featuring both animation and live performance, was released on Pitchfork.tv.^[57]

Personal life

In interviews, Nadler is reflective and open about her personal life and the extent to which her work can be considered autobiographical. The album The Saga of Mayflower May was written in the throes of heartbreak, whereas July chronicled the aftermath of a breakup occurring on Independence Day. The album Strangers also features elements from personal life, including marriage ("All the Colors of the Dark), building a home and the nighttime antics of a neighbor ("Shadow Show Diane").^[58] Although most of the personages in the songs are based on real people, she has stopped using real names.

Nadler taught art at a therapeutic high school for special needs children in Harlem, New York. Reflecting on this experience, she recounted, "It's definitely nice to step out of the insular indie rock community scene, especially because it can be very isolating being a full-time, self-employed artist and musician".^[59]

Discography

Studio albums

• Ballads of Living and Dying (2004, Eclipse Records)
• The Saga of Mayflower May (2005, Eclipse Records)
• Songs III: Bird on the Water (2007, Kemado Records)
• Little Hells (2009, Kemado Records)
• Marissa Nadler (2011, Box of Cedar Records)
• July (2014, Sacred Bones Records/Bella Union)
• Strangers (2016, Sacred Bones Records/Bella Union)

Self-released albums

• Four-Track Recordings, Outtakes (2005)
• Ivy and the Clovers (2007)
• Little Hells: Acoustic Demos (2010)
• Various Covers Over the Years (2010)
• Covers Volume II (2011)
• S/T Demos (2012)
• Bury Your Name (2016)

EPs

• The Sister (2012, Box of Cedar Records)
• Before July: Demos and Unreleased Songs (2014, Box of Cedar Records)

Singles

• "Diamond Heart"/"Leather Made Shoes" 7" (2006, My Kung Fu)
• "Diamond Heart"/"Dying Breed" 7" (2007, Peacefrog Records)
• "River of Dirt" CD (2009, Kemado Records)
• "Dead City Emily" digital-only (2013, Sacred Bones Records)
• "Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings"/"Drive" 7" (2014, Bella Union) (split single with Father John Misty)
• "Solitude" (Black Sabbath cover) digital-only (2015, self-released)
• "Blood and Tears" (Danzig cover) digital-only (2015, self-released)
• "Janie in Love" digital-only (2016, Sacred Bones Records)
• "All the Colors of the Dark" digital-only (2016, Sacred Bones Records)

Guest appearances

• Xasthur - Portal of Sorrow (2010, Hydra Head Records)
• Cloud Seeding - "Unquestioning" on Ink Jar (2011, Bleek Records)
• Carter Tanton - "Fake Pretend" on Free Clouds (2011, Western Vinyl)
• Hallelujah the Hills - No One Knows What Happens Next (2012, Discrete Pagentry Records)
• Case Studies - "Villain" on This Is Another Life (2013, Sacred Bones Records)
• Emily Jane White - "Dandelion Daze" and "Faster than the Devil" on Blood / Lines (2013, Talitres Records)
• Rich Shapiro - The Hope We Seek (2014, no label)
• Carter Tanton - "Jettison the Valley" on Jettison the Valley (2016, Western Vinyl)
• Ben Watt - "New Year of Grace" on Fever Dream (2016, Unmade Road)
• Lushlife + CSLSX - "Integration Loop" on Ritualize (2016, Western Vinyl)
• Okkervil River - Away (2016, ATO Records)
• Lost Horizons - "Winter's Approaching" and "I Saw the Days Go By" on Ojalá (2017, Bella Union)
• Lawrence Rothman - "Ain't Afraid Of Dying" on The Book of Law (2017, Downtown Records/Interscope Records)

Compilation appearances

• "Ballad to an Amber Lady" (Pearl Before Swine cover) on For the Dead in Space – Volumes II & III (2003, Secret Eye Records)
• "Ms John Lee" on New Skin for the Old Ceremony: The Polyamory Nine Year Anniversary Compilation (2005, Polyamory)
• "Your Dreary Days Are Dead" on Talitres Is 5 (2006, Talitres Records)
• "Judgement Day" on Not Alone (2006, Durtro/Jnana Records)
• "Clowne Towne" (Xiu Xiu cover) on Remixed & Covered (2007, 5 Rue Christine)
• "No Surprises" (Radiohead cover) on Reprises Inrocks (2008, Les Inrockuptibles)
• "Lonesome" on Brainwaves 2008 (2008, Brainwashed Recordings)
• "The Kiss" (Judee Sill cover) on Crayon Angel: A Tribute to the Music of Judee Sill (2009, American Dust)
• "All My Trials" on Beautiful Star: The Songs of Odetta (2009, Wears the Trousers Records)
• "Famous Blue Raincoat" (Leonard Cohen cover) on Cohen Revisited (A Tribute to Leonard Cohen) (2009, Les Inrockuptibles)
• "Strange That I Should Have Grown So Suddenly Blind" on Sailors with Wax Wings (2010, Angel Oven Records)
• "Daisy, Where Did You Go?" on Yuletide (2010, Disco Naïveté)
• "Dead Birds in Arkansas" on Music & Migration II (2011, Second Language)
• "The Killing Moon" (Echo and the Bunnymen cover) on Free Music Impulse (2011, Hybryda)
• "The Breaking" on For Lee Jackson in Space (2012, no label)
• "You've Got It All Wrong" on For Tom Carter (2013, Deserted Village)
• "Half as Much" on You Be My Heart (2013, Devon Reed)
• "It's Easier Now" (Jason Molina cover) on Through The Static and Distance: The Songs of Jason Molina (2015, Burst & Bloom)
• "The Kindness of Strangers" on Todo Muere Volume 4 (2016, Sacred Bones)
• "So Long And Far Away" (Karen Dalton cover) on Remembering Mountains: Unheard Songs by Karen Dalton (2016, Tompkins Square)
• "Carnival" on One Hundred Thousand Voices (2016, Active Minds, Inc.)
• "Rosemary" on Our First 100 Days (2017, Our First 100 Days)

See also

• Dream pop

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Marissa Nadler.

• Official website
• Marissa Nadler discography at Discogs