“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” – Boston Globe
For more than 12 years, American singer/songwriter Marissa Nadler has perfected her own take on the exquisitely sculpted gothic American songform. On her seventh full-length, Strangers, released in May 2016, she has shed any self-imposed restrictions her earlier albums adhered to, stepped through a looking glass, and created a truly monumental work.
Once again partnered with July producer Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Earth, Black Mountain), Strangers points out the darkly enchanting world of her music that revolves around her ethereal voice, which always sounds like its lilts are just shy of reaching some ledge of reconciliation before tragically, beautifully, falling just short.
The evening will be opened by Jess Williamson, a young singer-songwriter who, like the visceral desert landscape that inspires her, knows when to let her vocals drift across the song, light like a tumbleweed, and when to, like the fiercest of Texas storms, unleash thunder and lightning with her band.
A few years back, Jess Williamson returned home to her native Texas to reconsider everything and rethink the direction of her life. It was that about-face that gave her the security and solitude, the inspiration, needed to create 2014’s highly acclaimed debut album, Native State.
But that was two years ago.
Williamson’s sophomore album, Heart Song, questions the structures of support inherent in the comforts of home and showcases the rare kind of artistry that is the hardest to achieve after early success: change.
