Outlaster

Nina Nastasia has produced another somewhat slight but haunting album to complement 2006's 'On Leaving' and her 2007 collaboration with Jim White, 'You Follow Me'. Each of these albums contains two or three very powerful songs, at least one extraordinary one, and a number of atmospheric but somewhat uninspired efforts; perhaps that's not a bad hit rate but in the case of all three albums, I've felt faintly disappointed, as though she's fallen short of the greatness within her reach. Nastasia is a very special artist and I only wish she would take more time between records and produce another faultless album like her debut, 'Dogs', which is the place to start if you are unfamiliar with her work. Also: ignore this album's cheezy, vaguely adolescent-looking Gothic cover art; while many of Nastasia's songs aspire toward a kind of folk Gothic, she's much more sophisticated than this cover makes her look.

How I loved The Blackened Air. But Outlaster just replaced that as my favorite Nina Nastasia album. It's beautiful, moving, and powerful. It's so good that I don't want anyone else to listen to it because I just want it for myself. Selfish, I know, but I can't help it. I love how Nastasia evolves with each subsequent record, but never, ever diverts from the path--the core is the same, but each record has a theme that exposes another facet of her. Great record. Beautiful work. "Wakes" is orchestrated flawlessly, and it's--I think--the best track on Outlaster.

Questa cantante poco conosciuta nel nostro paese è una vera poetessa, le sue musiche sono avvolgenti, questo disco poi sembra un percorso trascendentale. Cercate su youtube qualche sua canzone e rendetevi conto, il suo stile è alla PJ Harvey. Ottimo, acquisto consigliato.

Nina Nastasia's latest work is a forlornly beautiful collection of ten folkish tunes, usually featuring exquisite acoustic accompaniment from some combination of a string quartet, woodwind quartet, and rhythm trio (guitar-bass-drum). The songs were expertly "recorded" by the legendary Steve Albini in Chicago. With Nina having a somewhat sweeter singing voice than Lisa Germano's, the two artists' styles are still somewhat similar; Ms Germano's music also being more relentlessly gloomy. In any case, I really recommend LG fans check out Nina. Along with the slow-folk, Outlaster also reveals a musical theater aspect on "This Familiar Way". It's a dramatic number that makes very effective use of all three ensembles and the players, especially the woodwinds and violin. Many listeners came to Nina's music via her song "Ugly Face", which was used over the closing credits of the horror flick Carriers. Hopefully they were then brave enough to try more of her songs or even albums. Outlaster is certainly a rewarding listen for those who like folk music with a chamber music twist, and who appreciate melancholy songs for the end of time. I am baffled as to why Amazon has this CD listed in some places as by "Giddy Motors and Nina Nastasia", though. There is no reference to "Giddy Motors" anywhere in the booklet or on the other packaging, nor is the album listed that way on her label's web site (fatcat).