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Marissa Nadler

Song III: Bird On the Water

Peacefrog Records | 2007 | Album

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Ethereal-voiced folk singer/songwriter Marissa Nadler has created a little beauty of an album that should do a better than average job of ensuring that she join the ranks of other new folkies like Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom and the like. While she’s definitely a modern girl (she loves the reverb), there’s also a tiny bit of an old-school feeling to her lyrics that gives her music a little bit more weight than a lot of the genres gauzy cloud-surfing tunes. Nadler’s more accessible than eccentric, but that doesn’t mean she won’t be getting her fair share of front page time on lots of music blogs.

Album opener “Diamond Heart” has Nadler working the pretty tones in her voice without sounding like she should be busking the Haight with a guitar a few decades ago. There’s an overall warmth to the song that speaks to the influence of modern songbirds like Norah Jones and Alicia Keys. “Mexican Summer” does add a few psychedlic flourishes here and there, but it’s more of a nod to the past than a full on trip back in time.

One of Marissa Nadler’s greatest strengths is her songwriting. She creates extremely vivid songs that can make the simplest of phrases overflow with life and emotion. “Dying Breed” is one of the best examples. When Nadler sings “Red is the color of memories”, images and stories come to mind even though she offers no more than a suggestion of the story behind her lyrics. That kind of potent imagery mated with her sense of melody makes a for a powerful one two punch of a song.

A few of Nadler’s songs like “Bird on Your Grave” end up being precious when they obviously want to be deep, but it’s a small price to pay for what is overall, a very strong album.

Amy Wagner