Search - Nina Nastasia :: On Leaving

Most Beautiful Album of the Year

Daniel P. Maksym | New York | 10/19/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Nina Nastasia's latest album is an absolute masterpiece. It is much more spare in its instrumentation (especially when compared to The Blackened Air or Run to Ruin) but that is a large part of its charm. You get to hear her as she is: an amazing songwriter with an incomperable voice."

Unique

Laurence Upton | Wilts, UK | 06/02/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In some ways it's business as usual on Nina's first album for Fat Cat. Steve Albini's immaculate engineering has been retained, as have regular sidemen Steven Beck, Dylan Willemsa, Jay Bellarose and Jim White. On the other hand, whilst all her albums could be described as sparse, with extremely subtle underpinnings in the playing, on this record studio artifice has been further stripped away so the sound is reminiscent of her smaller live performance settings, led by Nina and her guitar. Some of the songs, too, have featured in her live sets for some time and have been carefully chosen for their coherence in this 34 minute set.



The songs represent a dozen intimate insights into Nina's everyday world laid bare. Shockingly, this time some light has been allowed in. Brad Haunts A Party and Counting Up Your Bones may be familiarly dark, but in between these two songs lies Our Day Trip, describing a perfect day, albeit one which is yet to happen. Dare we admit the possibility that one day it may?



So good that artists this skilled and individual can still find an outlet for their muse in these banal, corporate times."

The Goddess of Small Things.

William J. Walker | England | 08/07/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The music on this album has delicate beauty which is hard, at first, to grasp but reveals itself slowly and gently upon repeated listening. I have owned this album for several months now and only now feel I am starting to fully understand it. It is not difficult to like, if anything it is probably her most accessible album to date, but still nowhere near the main-stream. It has a timeless quality and defies my ability to categorise it.



Each song is crafted with a precision and economy that suggests not a phrase or note has been wasted. Each glitters with its own memorable melody and lyrics which are more akin short poems than the standard singer-song writer fare.



The songs are short and seem to possess a kind of 'internal space' that sucks you into it. A wide variety of acoustic instruments are employed but always with a lightness of touch, adding a subtle variety to each piece.



I've actually seen comments from 'fans' that are mildly critical of the slightly less experimental sound on the album. Adding unnecassary or extraneous sounds, in the name of experimentation, to a work of near perfection could only detract from its beauty. Please trust the artist!



If there was any justice this would be widely recognised as one of the albums of '06 but it's probably too subtle for that. If you are prepared for something different, and can give this some time, your efforts are sure to be rewarded."