aaamusic | On 08, Oct 2010

NINA NASTASIA

‘You Can Take Your Time’ b/w ‘One Turned In’
New Single released 6th December FatCat Cat. No. DS7FAT86/ Barcodes: Digital – 06 – 00116 – 07865 – 0

Major European tour begins in Lisbon, 1st October with UK dates as follows.

29th November Cardiff, Glee Club
30th November London, Scala
1st December Bristol, Thekla
2nd December Oxford, Jericho
3rd December Audio, Brighton
4th December Nottingham, Glee Club
5th December Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
6th December Cambridge, The Haymakers
7th December Manchester, Deaf institute
10th December The Workman’s Club, Dublin

Tickets for all shows available from www.seetickets.com. Sons Of Noel & Adrian support on all dates.
Full details at http://www.myspace.com/ninanastasia

An obvious standout from this year’s ‘Outlaster’ album, ‘You Can Take Your Time’ is released as a single on 6th December to co-incide with UK dates. A staple of Nina’s live performances for several years, ‘You Can Take Your Time’ is a lush, sweeping number cast in amongst Outlaster’ s central theme of perpetuation.

Recorded separately from the album sessions and exclusive to this single, the second track, ‘One Turned In’ is one of Nina’s newer songs. Arriving fully formed, it is a voluble demonstration of Nina’s incredible ability armed solely with guitar-and-vocal.

Descriptions of Nina’s recent works, often put as “lean”, “sparse”, “delicate”, do not capture the spirit of ‘Outlaster’. It is work of lush sophistication that, with no loss of distinction or economy, transcends the reach of Nastasia’s famed sparseness. The orchestra takes a more formal approach with Paul Bryan’s powerfully affecting score, hearkening back to the likes of Gil Evans and the late Phil Ochs. Burnished with lustrous horns and reeds bolstered by a dynamic string ensemble, this record marks a distinct shift as much for her record label as for Nina Nastasia herself. Throughout FatCat’s richly diverse catalogue, you will not find another record like this.

It’s also true that Nina’s pervasive, quiet influence is starting to make itself known amongst the most recent crop of female songwriters – speaking to Mojo earlier this year, Laura Marling paid tribute to Nina; ‘She has the kind of openness I admire. You know she’s not going to break down at any moment, and there’s something very empowering about that’.

The title makes it plain: ‘Outlaster’ comprises ten tales of perseverance, both bound to and in defiance of the inexorable course toward a fixed but unknown future. ‘Outlaster’ might be an unsettling and revelatory experience, like reading a book that you’ve only seen film adaptations of. Such is to say that Nastasia’s music feels like ‘the real thing’ – something often but only superficially imitated. She is, to quote Interview magazine, “the rare artist who creates a new form from which others will copy.”