Marissa Nadler
Ballad Of Living And Dying

THE REVIEW

I absolutely want to point out this gem, nonexistent in the Italian market but available online, which I discovered by chance and has been haunting my dreams for quite some time. Imagine a centrifuge of timeless authors: Nick Drake, Donovan, Tim Buckley, Joni Mitchell, Francoise Hardy, and an infinity of others... mix them together with a sweet mist and otherworldly melodies, and you'll have this little masterpiece of sensitivity and emotion. A meditative and twilight album where Marissa sings with the heart of abandoned loves, the infinite slowness of rivers, gothic stories with sensual and unexpected twists and even references to literature and Edgar Allan Poe with the disorienting "Annabel Lee": "I was a child, and she was a child in this kingdom by the sea..." and it truly seems like you can hear Edgar's mournful voice after the death of his Virginia Clemm... the despair of being unable to care for her with the little money earned as a writer, watching her slowly disappear among coughing fits and rare lucid moments. When she sings "Without a lover... without a friend" you find yourself in the presence of the lover of your dreams: a shy dreamer who weaves chords, voice, and poetry, to awaken sensations today too detached from everyday life.

It's a real shame not being able to find the album around here, because this is one of the rare cases where buying the album is an obligation to the exquisite art of the creator. Download the songs, absolutely!