Sideways Through Sound: 16th May 2012: Marissa Nadler / Playlist

Featured: Marissa Nadler - The Sister (Box Of Cedar Records)

“Heartbreak is a great muse, but it can wear you down,” says Marissa Nadler, referring to the stormy relationships that haunted many of the heavenly hooks on her last couple records. “For The Sister, I realized I had muses all around me, whether it was childhood, betrayal, friendships, new love, nature, or hope. The narrator’s stronger in my songs now, and more able to bounce back if they choose to.”

While that may be true, the deeply personal characters in Nadler’s eight new songs—a filler-free collection that’s subtly linked to last year’s self-titled LP—are as complex as ever, from the codeine-clouded memories of the rock ‘n’ roll singer in “Constantine” to the downward spiral diatribes of the lost soul in “Christine.” And then there are the introspective turning points where the clouds part, where metaphorical wrecking balls burst through cement-clogged hearts and slivers of light slip through the cracks.

Meanwhile, the singer/guitarist keeps her confessionals as intimate as possible and hits her stride sonically, playing lead on every last song and letting only the slightest distractions—a skittish drum set, a punch-drunk chorus, a muggy mandolin—break the album’s brutally honest spell. Or as Nadler puts it, “I wanted the starkness of every song to reflect the lyrical content. Some of my biggest influences are confessional songwriters. It’s always been a very powerful thing to listen to Elliott Smith and Joni Mitchell, and feel so much from their stories.”