Marissa Nadler Issue #39

Little Hells

By Emily Becker
Published: March 1st, 2009 | 3:08pm

After listening to Little Hells, it makes sense that Boston-based singer Marissa Nadler is also a fine artist. Her music is laden with images that could be painted as easily as they are sung. She probably deserves to be more famous, but she slips right through the crack between the forcefulness of Polly Jean Harvey and the oddball genius of Joanna Newsom.

Because she packs her delicate song structures full of emotion, Nadler’s songs grab you by the solar plexus, but her wispy voice and dreamy arrangements soften the sadness. On “The Whole Is Wide,” Nadler uses a simple piano chord to create both melody and rhythm. The mood of the music underscores the slightly creepy lyrics: “Flowers died a long time ago, my friend / And they’re hanging on the wall with wax and thread.”

Never getting too wispy for her own good, Nadler drags you through the cobwebbed recesses of other people’s lives, and while the images she conjures may not be pretty, it’s hard to look away. Little Hells closes with “Mistress,” which includes Farmer Dave Scher’s tear-jerking lap steel, as she sends listeners away singing, “I’m leaving you for good this time / Goodbye, Misery."