On her eighth album, Boston’s Marissa Nadler confronts the debilitating truth that love might not be enough to keep two people together. From the swirling strings and gentle fingerpicking of opener For My Crimes and the rueful I Can’t Listen To Gene Clark Anymore, it’s an overt examination of the painful aftermath of a relationship. Nadler paints an evocative scene as we find her tracing her lover’s image in an empty bed and looking to where he once sat to her right in their car; it’s not always an easy listen. On Lover Release Me, Nadler confesses to witnessing her heart grow old: “Lover release me, I’m dying in the dark with you/ Lover believe me, I tried and tried and tried for you”. Sedate guitar entwines with Nadler’s spellbinding voice, multi-tracked to ghostly effect on Are You Really Gonna Move To The South?, while Blue Vapor hints at baring its teeth thrillingly. For My Crimes feels inherently like a chronicle of fading love, but it’s also a potent expression of femininity, backed by cameos from Nadler’s peers Sharon Van Etten, Angel Olsen and Mary Lattimore.
Written by Gary Walker. Released on Bella Union.