Marissa Nadler live @ The Social W1 21st MayThis was the first time I had seen Marissa Nadler, whose first album Ballads of Living and Dying saw me through this year’s slow climb out of winter.
I cannot recommend that album highly enough: its romantic-gothic, tripped out love and death songs have resonated powerfully with me. And Ralph likes it too.
This was the last in a 30-something day string of dates for Marissa Nadler. I could see she was tired and fractious and not really in the mood. But her guitar playing and voice were so honed by playing that they carried her unwilling spirit. She was great. I recognised Mayflower May and Annabelle Lee from her first record, but they were all good.
My surprise of the night was to see Phil (or Pete?) the soundman - who used to run the little studio at Noise Toys on Railton Road before it got flooded. I met him there once in a skunk stink to ask him about local MCs. He had to be sharp tonight, though, as Marissa constantly signalled him to tweak the mix.