Depression as Art - Marissa Nadler's Beatiful Gloom at Soundlab
Boston's Marissa Nadler writes songs exclusively about heartbreak. If you've never heard her sing, that statement might be enough to turn you off--I mean, how many cry-baby singer songwriters can we handle, right? However, if you can spare some time, and perhaps a few tears, Marissa's velveteen voice and sparse instrumentation will convince you otherwise.
Nadler's music is true American Gothic – heart-wrenching, sometimes horrific, stories delivered in a sleepy-eyed, yet almost chirpy manner. Her latest offering, Songs III, isn't a horribly depressing record per se. Sure, the songs deal with heartbreak, and often death, but there's beauty in all that decay. The depression isn't obvious all at once; instead, the feelings of sadness and pain spread from one song to the next like thick honey. Nadler's rich voice that ranges from ghostly to vaudevillian, floats on top of finger-picked acoustic guitars augmented by a sprinkling of other instruments--an occasional mandolin, organ, or a cymbal crash. It's in these moments that a careful listener will detect a sense of beauty, a kind of satisfaction that wallowing in your own misery can sometimes bring.
Album opener Diamond Heart has a gorgeous, old-timey feel that brings to mind Edit Piaf (who forgot to take her anti-depressants), singing American folk. Sylvia, a song about Sylvia Plath, could come off as sounding trite, but never fear--Nadler does the late great poetess justice with this mellow, poetic tribute. A cover of Leonard Cohen's Famous Blue Raincoat is fitting, considering Nadler's chilly, spectral delivery often gets compared to Cohen's.
Marissa Nadler and her band are making their way to Soundlab on September 8 for a night of music that I'm sure won't be forgotten soon. Toronto's Picastro will open the show, adding yet another layer to this night of dark, Gothic folk.
September 8, 9 PM
Soundlab
110 Pearl, 14213
$6
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JAramini
I'll just forfeit all of my manliness right here and now, but I went to her Myspace, listened to her cover of Radiohead's "No Surprises" and about halfway through it I noticed I was crying. It totally snuck up on me. Amazing stuff. I'm not sure if an entire evening of it might be too much to handle, but I'm definitely impressed.
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