Marissa Nadler

Marissa Nadler (born April 5, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter.

Active since 2000, she is currently signed to Sacred Bones Records and Bella Union, and released her ninth full-length studio album, The Path of the Clouds, in October 2021.

Her music has been characterized as blending "traditional folk, Gothic Americana, and dreamy pop into an original musical framework".

Her music "is rooted in old-school country and folk but brings in elements of experimental and black metal".

Sometimes the term "dream folk" has been invoked to describe her work.

Singing in a mezzo-soprano, Nadler has received acclaim for her vocals.

Her voice was described by Pitchfork as one "you would follow straight into Hades", and also "textured and angelic, with just a Hint of pain captured within her iridescent falsetto".

The Boston Globe said, "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".

Marissa Nadler was born in Washington, D.C. and raised in Needham, Massachusetts.

She was raised Jewish.

As a teenager, she taught herself to play guitar in a style similar to fingerpicking, playing a steady bass pattern with the thumb and filling out syncopated rhythms with the index finger.

It was described as having an "unorthodox, dusky sound".

Also while in her teens, she began to write songs as a hobby.

She subsequently recorded an album titled Autumn Rose (2002) as well as the four-track EP Somber Ghost Recordings (2003), neither of which have ever been released.

She studied painting at Rhode Island School of Design, where she obtained a bachelor's degree in illustration in 2003, and a master's degree in art education a year later.

During her studies, she began to perform at open mic events around Providence. While exploring artistic techniques such as illustration, painting, bookbinding, wood carving and encaustic painting, she also honed her songwriting craft.

Nadler also contributed to the Pearl Before Swine tribute album For the Dead in Space - Volumes II & III in 2003.

Nadler released her first official album, Ballads of Living and Dying, on Eclipse Records in January 2004.

The follow-up The Saga of Mayflower May was released in July 2005.

Both records were distributed in the United States by Eclipse, and by the UK label Beautiful Happiness in Europe.

Nadler went on some of her first tours with acts such as the late American primitive guitarist Jack Rose and the drone metal band Earth.

Nadler released her third studio album, Songs III: Bird on the Water, on Peacefrog Records in Europe on March 12, 2007.

The album was recorded and produced by Greg Weeks of the band Espers in Philadelphia and was subsequently released in the US and Canada on August 12, 2007, by Kemado Records.

It was nominated for two PLUG Independent Music Awards in 2008: "Best Female Artist of the Year" and "Best Americana Record of the Year".

Nadler also won "Outstanding Singer-Songwriter of the Year" at the 2008 Boston Music Awards, with three nominations altogether.

Her fourth full-length album, Little Hells, produced by Chris Coady, was released on March 3, 2009 and received praise from many critics.

including 4-star reviews from magazines such as Mojo, Rolling Stone in France and Germany, Uncut, and Q.

It received an 8.3 from Pitchfork.

The album departed from the earlier folk-based template with the introduction of electronic elements.

In early 2010, Nadler contributed vocals on Portal of Sorrow, the final album by black metal project Xasthur.

On June 14, 2011, an eponymous record was released worldwide on Nadler's own label, Box of Cedar Records.

The song "Baby, I Will Leave You in the Morning" was released as a free download on March 8, followed by a subsequent music video.

The album was positively received by Pitchfork, which gave it 8.1 out of 10, and it was called "a stellar collection of sullen melodies and lovelorn anecdotes akin to those of Joni Mitchell".

On May 29, 2012, she released The Sister, a short eight-song "companion" album to Marissa Nadler.

The album was dubbed by Paste as an "impressive concoction of stark minimalism".

In November 2012, Nadler collaborated with Angel Olsen on two cover songs that were shared on Nadler's SoundCloud page: the Richard and Linda Thompson song "My Dreams Have Withered and Died" and the Mickey Newbury song "Frisco Depot".

In 2013, she signed to Brooklyn-based Sacred Bones Records.

The first single from the album, "Dead City Emily", was released in November 2013 and positively received by Stereogum as an "ethereal spine-tingler" and by BrooklynVegan as "a track as haunting and delicate as any of her best tracks to date".

Her album July was released by the label on February 4, 2014 and on February 10 by Bella Union in the UK.

It was recorded at Seattle's Avast Studios, and produced by collaborator Randall Dunn.