| Marissa Nadler — Strangers (May 20th, 2016) |
Marissa Nadler — Strangers (May 20th, 2016) 
*** Limited Edition Version: Edition of 400 hand–numbered copies, comes with alternate screen–printed wrap–around sleeve, 8–song demo cassette, wax sealed and available by mail–order only. ONE PER PERSON LIMIT. ***
Ξ↑Ξ For more than 12 years, Marissa Nadler has perfected her own take on the exquisitely sculpted gothic American songform. On her seventh full–length, Strangers, she has shed any self–imposed restrictions her earlier albums adhered to, stepped through a looking glass, and created a truly monumental work.
Ξ↑Ξ In the two years since 2014’s elegiac, autobiographical July, Nadler has reconciled the heartbreak so often a catalyst for her songwriting. Turning her writing to more universal themes, Nadler dives deep into a surreal, apocalyptic dreamscape. Her lyrics touch upon the loneliness and despair of the characters that inhabit them. These muses are primal, fractured, disillusioned, delicate, and alone. They are the unified voice of this record, the titular “strangers.”
Ξ↑Ξ US singer/songwriter with a haunting acoustic style. Born: April 5, 1981 in Washington D.C.
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Album release: May 20th, 2016
Record Label: Scared Bones / Bella Union
Duration: 45:05
Tracks:
01. Divers of the Dust 2:45
02. Katie I Know 5:46
03. Skyscraper 4:08
04. Hungry Is the Ghost 6:16
05. All the Colors of the Dark 4:13
06. Strangers 4:12
07. Janie in Love 5:03
08. Waking 2:39
09. Shadow Show Diane 3:16
10. Nothing Feels the Same 3:14
11. Dissolve 3:33 Ξ↑Ξ Recorded at Seattle’s Avast Studio, the album pairs Nadler for the first time with producer Randall Dunn (Earth, Sunn O))), Wolves in the Throne Room). Dunn matches Nadler’s darkness by creating a multi–colored sonic palette that infuses new dimensions into her songs. Eyvind Kang’s strings, Steve Moore’s synths, and Phil Wandscher’s guitar lines escalate the whole affair to a panoramic level of beautiful, eerie wonder.
Ξ↑Ξ July is the kind of release that reminds you why NPR counts Nadler’s songwriting as so “revered among an assortment of tastemakers.” This is a singular achievement for the artist, a record she couldn’t have made earlier in her career because, as every songwriter knows, she didn’t just write these songs: she lived them. Musical style:
♠♠♠♠ Singing in a mezzo–soprano, the foundation of her songs is her acoustic guitar, often accompanied by a variety of instruments and ambient, reverb–laden production. She has been known to play in open tunings on several songs. Her influences include Patti Smith, Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush and Townes Van Zandt. In an interview with What Weekly magazine, she said of Van Zandt: “He’s one of my favorite songwriters. I’m really glad that posthumously he’s getting the recognition that he deserved during his lifetime.”
♠♠♠♠ Nadler has received 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.” 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. Hardly anyone considers Nadler a folk musician.”
♠♠♠♠ Lyrically, her first records were inspired by “my first real love and heartbreak. I was a late bloomer so I didn’t date much before that first significant relationship. That heartbreak was like water to a plant for my songwriting. I hate to say it was one of the times where I was feeling the most manic and the most inspired.”
Studio albums:
♠ 2004: Ballads of Living and Dying (Eclipse Records)
♠ 2005: The Saga of Mayflower May (Eclipse Records)
♠ 2007: Songs III: Bird on the Water (Kemado Records)
♠ 2009: Little Hells (Kemado Records)
♠ 2011: Marissa Nadler (Box of Cedar Records)
♠ 2014: July (Sacred Bones Records/Bella Union)
♠ 2016: Strangers (Sacred Bones Records/Bella Union)
Label: http://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/
Bandcamp: http://marissanadler.bandcamp.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/marissanadler
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/marissanadler
Website: http://www.marissanadler.com/
♠♠♠♠______________________________________________________♠♠♠♠
| Marissa Nadler — Strangers (May 20th, 2016) |
Ξ↑Ξ For more than 12 years, Marissa Nadler has perfected her own take on the exquisitely sculpted gothic American songform. On her seventh full–length, Strangers, she has shed any self–imposed restrictions her earlier albums adhered to, stepped through a looking glass, and created a truly monumental work.
Ξ↑Ξ In the two years since 2014’s elegiac, autobiographical July, Nadler has reconciled the heartbreak so often a catalyst for her songwriting. Turning her writing to more universal themes, Nadler dives deep into a surreal, apocalyptic dreamscape. Her lyrics touch upon the loneliness and despair of the characters that inhabit them. These muses are primal, fractured, disillusioned, delicate, and alone. They are the unified voice of this record, the titular “strangers.”
Ξ↑Ξ US singer/songwriter with a haunting acoustic style. Born: April 5, 1981 in Washington D.C.
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Album release: May 20th, 2016
Record Label: Scared Bones / Bella Union
Duration: 45:05
Tracks:
01. Divers of the Dust 2:45
02. Katie I Know 5:46
03. Skyscraper 4:08
04. Hungry Is the Ghost 6:16
05. All the Colors of the Dark 4:13
06. Strangers 4:12
07. Janie in Love 5:03
08. Waking 2:39
09. Shadow Show Diane 3:16
10. Nothing Feels the Same 3:14
11. Dissolve 3:33 Ξ↑Ξ Recorded at Seattle’s Avast Studio, the album pairs Nadler for the first time with producer Randall Dunn (Earth, Sunn O))), Wolves in the Throne Room). Dunn matches Nadler’s darkness by creating a multi–colored sonic palette that infuses new dimensions into her songs. Eyvind Kang’s strings, Steve Moore’s synths, and Phil Wandscher’s guitar lines escalate the whole affair to a panoramic level of beautiful, eerie wonder.
Ξ↑Ξ July is the kind of release that reminds you why NPR counts Nadler’s songwriting as so “revered among an assortment of tastemakers.” This is a singular achievement for the artist, a record she couldn’t have made earlier in her career because, as every songwriter knows, she didn’t just write these songs: she lived them. Musical style:
♠♠♠♠ Singing in a mezzo–soprano, the foundation of her songs is her acoustic guitar, often accompanied by a variety of instruments and ambient, reverb–laden production. She has been known to play in open tunings on several songs. Her influences include Patti Smith, Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush and Townes Van Zandt. In an interview with What Weekly magazine, she said of Van Zandt: “He’s one of my favorite songwriters. I’m really glad that posthumously he’s getting the recognition that he deserved during his lifetime.”
♠♠♠♠ Nadler has received 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.” 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. Hardly anyone considers Nadler a folk musician.”
♠♠♠♠ Lyrically, her first records were inspired by “my first real love and heartbreak. I was a late bloomer so I didn’t date much before that first significant relationship. That heartbreak was like water to a plant for my songwriting. I hate to say it was one of the times where I was feeling the most manic and the most inspired.”
Studio albums:
♠ 2004: Ballads of Living and Dying (Eclipse Records)
♠ 2005: The Saga of Mayflower May (Eclipse Records)
♠ 2007: Songs III: Bird on the Water (Kemado Records)
♠ 2009: Little Hells (Kemado Records)
♠ 2011: Marissa Nadler (Box of Cedar Records)
♠ 2014: July (Sacred Bones Records/Bella Union)
♠ 2016: Strangers (Sacred Bones Records/Bella Union)
Label: http://www.sacredbonesrecords.com/
Bandcamp: http://marissanadler.bandcamp.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/marissanadler
Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/marissanadler
Website: http://www.marissanadler.com/
♠♠♠♠______________________________________________________♠♠♠♠