Nadler far from Bjork

Singer-songwriter Marissa Nadler’s eponymous fifth album is a beautifully melancholy affair, but it teeters on the edge of melodramatic. Marissa Nadler

Marissa Nadler

Box of Cedar Records

Grade: B-

Rocks Like: Kate Bush, Joni Mitchell

Singer-songwriter Marissa Nadler’s eponymous fifth album is a beautifully melancholy affair, but it teeters on the edge of melodramatic.

Completely fan-funded after a successful campaign through Kickstarter, a site through which users finance artists’ various creative endeavours, the album continues Nadler’s streak of dreamy and creepy songwriting.

The album is so perfect for an afternoon spent reading at a coffee shop that you can practically hear the beans grinding and the milk steaming in the background.

Sounding like an updated version of a Kate Bush release — only without the lyrical allusions to “Wuthering Heights” and fog-filled music videos — Nadler’s new album lets her haunting voice be the center of attention. The instrumental arrangements complement the vocals without overshadowing them, allowing Nadler’s real strength — her ability to convey heartfelt emotion through her voice — to shine.

Standout tracks from the album include “Alabaster Queen” and “Daisy, Where Did You Go?” which showcase the singer’s range and power. At its best, her voice is simultaneously haunting, dreamy and hopeful — bringing to mind mythological sirens drawing their victims in with song. However, on some tracks, the vocals come across as a little silly, almost as though Nadler is trying too hard to distinguish herself from stereotypical female singer-songwriters in the vein of PJ Harvey or Ingrid Michaelson.

Instead of a folksy, guitar-heavy allure, Nadler relies more on the strangeness of her style, like her high pitched voice, bringing willing listeners into her world. But she keeps skeptics firmly rooted in this one with a seemingly off-putting quality. While that works for some — Bjork, for instance — Nadler isn’t quite interesting enough to completely pull it off.

Likewise, her lyrics range from poetic to pretentious, like in “Alabaster Queen” when said sings, “When I hear you play / I think of water and sunshine / and I never really mind / all your women wistful wanting / you all the time.” Drawing from American Gothic traditions, her lyrics tell stories of forgotten times and wistful dreams that occasionally come across as a little too romantic.