Marissa Nadler

Marissa Nadler is a US singer-songwriter from Washington, D.C., born in 1981 and raised in Needham, Massachusetts. She lives in Nashville, Tennessee. Her work is usually described as folk-based, and her sound spans chamber folk, contemporary folk, dream pop, indie folk, psychedelic folk and related dream folk, freak folk and New Weird America territory.

Early life and training

As a teenager, Nadler teaches herself guitar in a fingerpicking style built around a steady thumbed bass line and syncopated index-finger rhythms, giving her playing an unorthodox, dusky character. She begins writing songs in her teens. She is raised Jewish. While studying at the Rhode Island School of Design, she performs at open mic nights in Providence and also works across illustration, painting, bookbinding, wood carving and encaustic painting. She earns a bachelor's degree in illustration in 2003 and a master's degree in art education the following year.

Early recordings and first releases

Before her first official release, Nadler records Autumn Rose in 2002 and the four-track EP Somber Ghost Recordings in 2003; neither is released. She also appears on the Pearl Before Swine tribute compilation For the Dead in Space - Volumes II & III in 2003.

Her first official album, Ballads of Living and Dying, appears on Eclipse Records in 2004, followed by The Saga of Mayflower May in 2005. Both are distributed in the United States by Eclipse and in Europe by Beautiful Happiness. Around this period she tours with acts including Jack Rose and Earth.

Breakthrough records and critical attention

Songs III: Bird on the Water is released in Europe on Peacefrog Records in 2007 and later in the US and Canada on Kemado Records. Greg Weeks of Espers records and produces the album in Philadelphia. In 2008 it receives nominations for two PLUG Independent Music Awards, for Best Female Artist of the Year and Best Americana Record of the Year. Nadler also wins Outstanding Singer-Songwriter of the Year at the 2008 Boston Music Awards.

Little Hells, produced by Chris Coady, follows in 2009. It introduces more electronic elements than her earlier folk material and receives strong reviews from magazines including Mojo, Rolling Stone in France and Germany, Uncut and Q, as well as an 8.3 rating from Pitchfork.

In early 2010 she contributes vocals to Portal of Sorrow, the final album by the black metal project Xasthur.

Marissa Nadler and The Sister

Her self-titled album appears worldwide in 2011 on her own label, Box of Cedar Records. The track “Baby, I Will Leave You in the Morning” is issued as a free download before the album’s release and is accompanied by a video. In 2012 she releases The Sister, an eight-song companion album. That same year she shares two cover versions with Angel Olsen on her SoundCloud page: Richard and Linda Thompson’s “My Dreams Have Withered and Died” and Mickey Newbury’s “Frisco Depot”.

Sacred Bones Records and later albums

Nadler signs to Sacred Bones Records in 2013. Her album July is released by Sacred Bones in 2014 and by Bella Union in the UK. It is recorded at Avast Studios in Seattle and produced by Randall Dunn. “Dead City Emily”, the first single, appears in 2013. The album reaches No. 16 on Billboard’s Folk Albums chart and No. 14 on the Top Heatseekers chart.

In 2014 she releases a split 7-inch with Father John Misty on Bella Union: he covers her “Drive” and she covers “Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings”.

Strangers, recorded with Dunn in 2015, is released in 2016. A limited edition includes original artwork and a pre-release cassette of Bury Your Name. After release she tours North America and Europe, and later joins Ghost on their US tour. During this period she also directs and animates videos for “Janie in Love”, “All the Colors of the Dark” and “Blood and Tears”, and releases a video for “Dissolve” on Pitchfork.tv featuring animation and live performance.

Compilations, collaborations and side projects

In 2017 Sacred Bones issues Leave the Light On: Bedroom Recordings, her first compilation, drawing on home recordings and demos. She also self-releases two cover albums on Bandcamp. Later in 2017 and 2018 she puts out more self-released cover collections.

Her eighth studio album, For My Crimes, appears in 2018. It includes guest vocals from Angel Olsen, Sharon Van Etten and Kristin Kontrol, and it is the first of her albums to use her own artwork on the cover. The album also features a mixed-media animated video for “Blue Vapor”, made with stylist Jenni Hensler.

In 2019 she releases the collaborative tracks “Poison” and “If We Make It Through the Summer” with John Cale. The collaborative album Droneflower, made with Stephen Brodsky, also appears that year. The pair play three East Coast shows and later issue additional covers. She is also associated with the project Droneflower.

2020s work

In 2020 Nadler presents a performance and an exhibition of self-portrait paintings at Grauzone Festival in The Hague. She also publishes two limited-edition photography books, releases a Simon & Garfunkel cover, issues two albums of unreleased songs and demos, and puts out the ambient EP moons.

In 2021 she releases the single “Sleepwalk & Lonely People” and the compilation Instead of Dreaming. Her ninth solo album, The Path of the Clouds, follows later that year. Written during the early pandemic, it centres on transformation, mysticism and true-crime-inspired storytelling. It is self-produced and features Mary Lattimore, Simon Raymonde, Emma Ruth Rundle, Amber Webber and Milky Burgess.

In 2022 she releases the EP The Wrath of the Clouds. In 2023 she contributes to the Kronos Quartet and Ghost Train Orchestra recording of Moondog material.

In 2024 she releases the split single “Where Do I Go” with Happy Rhodes on Numero Group.

New Radiations

Nadler’s album New Radiations appears in 2025. She releases the title track with a self-made video incorporating her fine art photography, drawing and painting, followed by videos for “Hatchet Man” and “Light Years”. She produces the album herself, with mixing by Randall Dunn and instrumental arrangements by Milky Burgess. The album is described as having an intimate, atmospheric sound with layered harmonies.

Voice and style

Nadler sings as a mezzo-soprano and receives repeated praise for her voice. Writers describe it as resonant, angelic and haunted, and compare its effect to gothic and dreamlike imagery. Her songs often combine folk, country and experimental elements, and her later work also incorporates electronic and ambient textures.