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Marissa Rachael Nadler (born April 5, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter based in Boston.
Active since 2000, she has released a number of well-received studio albums, including Songs III: Bird on the Water (2007).
She is currently signed to Sacred Bones Records and Bella Union, and released her sixth full-length studio album July in early February 2014.Lyrically her music is introspective and has American Gothic themes, with the Boston Globe writing "She has...an intoxicating soprano drenched in gauzy reverb that hits bell-clear heights, lingers, and tapers off like rings of smoke." The narrative aspects of her songs often span a number of albums in a style often described as "dream folk".Early lifeMarissa Nadler was born on April 5, 1981 and raised in Massachusetts.
She was exposed to art at a young age through her mother Pamela, an abstract painter, and her older brother Stuart, a writer who also played guitar.
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.
It was described as having an "unorthodox, dusky sound".
At the age of 15, she began to write her first songs, and recorded a number of them in a New Hampshire studio.
At this stage she considered music as "kind of a hobby".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 a year later.
During her studies, she began to perform at open mic events around Providence.
After graduating, Nadler worked as an art teacher in Harlem, New York for a short time.While exploring artistic techniques such as illustration, painting, bookbinding, woodcarving and encaustic painting she also honed her songwriting craft.
During her studies, Nadler met the musician Myles Baer.
Baer helped her record the songs she had been performing and joined her in some live performances.
The two eventually became romantically involved.
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.Music careerNadler released her first official album, Ballads of Living and Dying, on Eclipse Records in January 2004.
The follow-up, The Saga of Mayflower May, inspired by her breakup with Bear, was released in July 2005.
Both records were distributed in the United States by Eclipse Records, and by the UK label Beautiful Happiness in Europe.Nadler released her third record, Songs III: Bird on the Water, on Peacefrog Records in Europe on March 12, 2007.
The album was released in the US and Canada on August 12, 2007 by Kemado Records.
It was nominated for two PLUG 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 record, Little Hells, was released March 3, 2009.
receiving praise from many critics.
including four-star reviews from magazines such as Mojo, Rolling Stone in France and Germany, Uncut Magazine, and Q Magazine.
It received an 8.3 from Pitchfork.
The album departed from the earlier folk-based template with the introduction of electronic elements.In early 2010, she contributed backing vocals to Portal of Sorrow, the final album by black metal project Xasthur.On June 14, 2011, an eponymous record was released worldwide on Nadler's own label, Box of Cedar Records.
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.
The album was positively received by Pitchfork, which gave it 8.1/10, and it was called "a stellar collection of sullen melodies and lovelorn anecdotes akin to those of Joni Mitchell."On May 29, 2012, she released The Sister, a short eight-song "companion" album to Marissa Nadler.
The album was dubbed by Paste Magazine an "impressive concoction of stark minimalism." In this period, Nadler briefly returned to part-time teaching special needs children in the Boston area, explaining that she wanted "to keep busy and help people with my time".In 2013, she signed to Brooklyn-based Sacred Bones Records.
Her album July was released on the label on February 4, 2014 and February 10 through Bella Union in the UK.
It was recorded at Seattle’s Avast Studios, July and produced by Randall Dunn.
The first single from the album, "Dead City Emily," was released in November 2013 and positively received by Stereogum as an “ethereal spine-tingler” and by Brooklyn Vegan as “a track as haunting and delicate as any of her best tracks to date.”Musical styleSinging 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 John Fahey, Robbie Basho, Patti Smith, Fleetwood Mac, Joni Mitchell, Kate Bush, Leonard Cohen, Dirty Three, Sammi Smith, Tammy Wynette and Townes Van Zandt.Her voice was described by Pitchfork as "a voice 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 wrote "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."She has referenced poets such as Edgar Allan Poe in her music, and has revealed that the characters and scenarios in her lyrics are often based on her real experiences.