Marissa Nadler (born April 5, 1981) is an American dream-folk and fine artist based in Boston. She grew up in a small town in Massachusetts. She studied painting at Rhode Island School of Design but song-writing became her favored artistic outlet.
While exploring old artistic techniques such as woodcarving and encaustic painting, she also began to hone her songwriting craft. She is a self taught guitarist, who as a teenager learned to play in a style similar to Travis picking, playing a steady bass pattern with the thumb and filling out syncopated rhythms with the fingers. She is also self-taught as a singer.
Her voice (often bathed in a wash of reverb) is what people immediately respond to in her music, described by the popular online music website Pitchfork Media as "a voice you would follow straight into Hades." She is known for her dreamy, atmospheric music, that although rooted in folk traditions, is more ethereal than earthy. Her music was recently described as "ethereal reverberations" in the New York Times.
Many describe Nadler's songs as having American Gothic leanings; her stories often take place in an imagined, idealistic time with a cast of characters of her own creation. Yet, in recent years, it has emerged that the characters are less make believe than listeners thought and are based on real people, and their real lives. Her links to American Gothic are reinforced by "Annabelle Lee," the last song on her debut album, Ballads of Living and Dying, which puts the poem of the same title by Edgar Allan Poe to a musical backing. Singing in a haunting mezzo-soprano, the foundation of her songs are her delicate acoustic guitar, often accompanied by a variety of instruments, ranging from organ to theremin to electric guitar.
Marissa Nadler released her first album, Ballads of Living and Dying, on Eclipse Records in 2004; her follow-up, The Saga of Mayflower May, was released in July 2005. Both records were distributed in the US by Eclipse Records, and by the UK label Beautiful Happiness in Europe. Eclipse Records' Ed Hardy is credited as having "discovered" Marissa Nadler, and also bringing her into the underground music family. A Welsh label, My Kung Fu records, released a double A-side 7" single for "Diamond Heart"/"Leather Made Shoes" in 2006, two tracks from her third record. Marissa 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. Songs III: Bird on the Water was nominated for two PLUG awards in 2008: best female artist of the year, and best Americana record of the year. Marissa won "Outstanding Singer-Songwriter of the Year" in the 2008 Boston Music Awards, with three nominations altogether. Her fourth full-length record, Little Hells, was released March 3, 2009.
Albums
* Ballads of Living and Dying (2004)
* The Saga of Mayflower May (July 2005)
* Songs III: Bird on the Water (March 2007)
* Little Hells (March 2009)
Singles, EPs and demos
* Four-Track Recordings, Outtakes (2005)
* "Diamond Heart"/"Leather Made Shoes" single (May 2006)
* "Diamond Heart"/"Dying Breed" single (February 2007)
* "Bird on Your Grave" single (music video only) (October 2007)
* Ivy and the Clovers - Promotional CD sold on tour (2007)
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