Marissa Nadler preview
Marissa Nadler
Ronny’s, Chicago
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
A certain air surrounds singer-songwriter Marissa Nadler. Call it gothic, spacy, or just a plumb fit for a noir horror film, the Massachusetts-bred artist doesn’t shy away from any of these styles on her third full-length release, Songs III: Bird On The Water (Kemado).
With a willowy voice undulating on the fringes of her morbidly stark compositions like a vastly more ethereal Kate Bush, Nadler may not be everyone’s cup of tea. But a closer look into the heart of this album’s 11 tracks reveals a tortured grace that allows listeners to bypass some of Nadler’s delicate, yet slightly pretentious cooing. (Just once, it would be nice if she just belted out a chorus at full volume without putting on the baby voice.)
“My Love And I” sounds like an old world procession and wouldn’t be out of place among the wenches, knights, and jumbo turkey legs at the Bristol Renaissance Faire. “Diamond Heart” finds a kindred spirit in any one of the fairy tales in Shara Worden’s My Brightest Diamond catalog, and “Bird On Your Grave” is a downtrodden lullaby that incorporates a sawing electric guitar to great effect.
Nadler names Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell as influences, but poet Edgar Allan Poe is her true godfather.
Picasso and Angel Olson open.
— Janine Schaults
Click here to download “Diamond Heart.”
Category: Stage Buzz, Weekly
