Photo by Madeline Harvey.
Marissa Nadler sailed into Austin Sunday evening at Holy Mountain atop a mystical ship of reverb and fingerpicked 12-string guitars. She was accompanied only by a single cellist, Janel Leppin, who masterfully complimented Nadler’s penchant for dark folk with an ability to pull pure tone from the strings of her cello.
Photo by Madeline Harvey.
Nadler’s set was composed entirely of tracks from her most recent effort July released on Sacred Bones Records earlier this February, save for a few numbers at the end from previous albums. July is her sixth studio album, produced for the first time by Randall Dunn (Earth, Sunn O)))) who was able to take her songs deeper into sonic atmosphere dominated by a water-like quality. Watching her set, I felt as though I was watching a nautical songstress navigating the murky, lovelorn, miasmic, heartbroken sea with a siren’s call as her guide. This was a cry to be heard, for someone to listen and connect with the pain in which she has been forced to wallow. Yet she revels in the pain. Her songs all contribute to an overall minor key tonality, which set the mood for the evening and its reverent crowd who appreciated the somber seriousness of this singer-songwriter. The reverb on her voice and the swelling dynamics of her guitar and the accompanying cello filled the room with their emptiness.
Photo by Madeline Harvey.
Unafraid of being heard, or seen for that matter in her now-trademark red dress, she is part of a growing abundance of singers (Florence Welch, Jess Williamson, Julianna Barwick) whose bold voices and visceral songwriting signals a common emphasis on the female perspective. Among these, Nadler is surely welcomed as another alternative perspective to the ubiquitous male gaze, the dominant perspective that has occupied not only music but most facets of western society stretching back centuries.
Photo by Madeline Harvey.
Her lyrics seem to carry familiar themes of color and seasons, especially in regard to their cyclical nature. What once was green and is now red will soon be brown and dead. This metaphor for partnerships and love compliments the tonal color or timbre of her music which emits these particular flourishes throughout the set, giving the similarly sounding songs a narrative arc, further complimenting my nautical sea-journey metaphor. The entire set of new songs is not an accident. A relationship cannot be contained in one song; it takes time to explain the whole story. Relationships have their own seasons, hard times and good times reflected in different tempos, timbres, and instrumentation. During the set, Nadler used three guitars: one electric, one 12-string acoustic, and one six-string acoustic guitar, all tuned to an open position, allowing her to let strings ring out through generous amounts of reverb, filling Holy Mountain with a church-like reverence of poeticism and emotion.
Photo by Madeline Harvey.
While she may subscribe to timeless cosmic attitudes, she manages to incorporate contemporary lyrical references that anchor her temporally in her generation: a device that makes singer-songwriters matter so much when we analyze popular culture. Their metaphorical reflection on our current state helps us understand where and how we stand within it all and is why the best songwriters are able to connect to their audiences. Do we need a hot shower amidst tears? Light a candle at the very least and don’t try to force the unavoidable tears that will naturally come as Nadler guides you through the grieving process. Don’t we need that release sometimes? Isn’t that why we put on one album over another? This is mood music; a very deep mood that permeates, envelopes and consumes. A good songwriter thrives on harnessing the impressive paradox of finding those relatable moments of specificity into which the listener can escape, living within moments past and present and perhaps, if still optimistic after all said and done, the future.
All photos © Madeline Harvey & Pop Press International; all rights reserved. Click any image to open in slideshow viewer.
