BBC Review
Nastasia’s talent is to snare those who find her, and never let them go.
Jude Rogers 2010-06-03
Since 2000, Hollywood-born, New York-based singer-songwriter Nina Nastasia has been making astonishing albums that have cut listeners to the quick, leaving their bones exposed, dragging their hearts away. She has swept up some high-profile fans in the process: six sessions were recorded for John Peel, and legendary producer Steve Albini has worked with her closely throughout the last decade, calling her first album, Dogs, “one of my favourites… of the couple of thousand records I’ve been involved with”. Still largely unknown outside alternative circles, Nastasia’s bruised, balmy songs deserve a much wider audience.
Outlaster is Nastasia’s sixth LP, following 2007’s You Follow Me, an experimental album fashioned with Dirty Three drummer Jim White. This is a more old-fashioned record, full of tangible tenderness and yearning strings, but there is imminent danger as it moves along languidly. Nastasia’s beautiful voice is at the heart of this, being easy to love and full of natural soul, but also handling every syllable with a quick-smart economy that teems with strength and authority.
These endlessly accessible songs also have depths and twists. Cry, Cry, Baby begins with Nastasia telling her newly-former lover she won’t weep or worry any more, but later she says, coldly: “You’re my only true love / And I know I can’t change”. You Can Take Your Time swings with country spirit and reassurance, albeit with a sting in the tail (“you can take your time to work things out / It’ll be alright, just don’t screw up”), while What’s Out There exposes her talent for observation (“A wall, a window, a gnatty garden turning hotly in the heat”), as strings are plucked and bowed anarchically to create clammy atmospheres.
Nevertheless, this is a record full of space and intimacy, drawing the listener completely into its black-and-blue world. This mood makes opening lines like “They’re wrapped him in a sheet, he could be anyone / We say a psalm, as we would for anyone” from Wakes sound much more personal and tangible than it is grand and dramatic. Let her stories into your life, and they will never leave you. After all, Nastasia’s talent is to snare those who find her, and never let them go.
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Comment number 1.
At 19:08 5th Jun 2010, andrewrwales wrote:Don't want to be pedantic... but you refer to "Dogs" as Nina's first album when it is in fact her third.
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Comment number 2.
At 23:15 5th Jun 2010, Mike_Diver wrote:It's the first. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Nastasia
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Comment number 3.
At 14:34 7th Jun 2010, Chris Butler wrote:Just to confirm Dogs was Nina's first album - you may have mistaken the repackaged re-released version of the same album for her third. By the way I caught her and Matt playing the Folk House in Bristol just a couple of Friday's ago (28th May)- she was astonishing and her version of the Tango infused "This Familiar Way" was gorgeous! If you can catch her, I would heartily recommend her live show.
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Comment number 4.
At 09:50 16th Jul 2010, Mick cooper wrote:Dogs was her first album. Not that I don't trust wikipedia ;) but the Fat Cat folks who released Outlaster are wholly reliable and have a good short bio http://fat-cat.co.uk/fatcat/artistInfo.php?id=108. All her records are pure genius in whatever order they were released. Buy.
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