Secret Meeting score: 77

by Philip Moss

Art teacher-cum-singer/songwriter, Marissa Nadler, has been releasing music since 2004. But having just signed to Bella Union, she’s made the brave decision to pare back the day job in order to give more focus to her music.

Early album highlight and lead single, I Can’t Listen To Gene Clarke Anymore, is awash with reverberating acoustic guitars as her gorgeous vocals – backed up by Sharon Van Etten – is as close as the record comes to a pop tune, evoking early Lana Del Rey and Lykke Li’s wonderful I Never Learn.

Other standouts include the mournfully reflective and haunting, Are You Going To Move to the South and Lover Release Me. While centrepiece, Blue Vapor, has a fire in its belly capable of leaving a searing, indelible mark on even the coldest of hearts.

Producers, Lawrence Rothman and Justin Raisen (Angel Olsen, Kim Gordon, Charli XCX), have done a fine job in capturing the heart of Nadler’s writing, but somehow resist the temptation to take full advantage of the studio as heard on other records of a similar ilk, such as Kathryn Joseph’s From When I Wake The Want Is or the aforementioned works of Del Rey and Li. As a result, the album does suffer as it progresses due to the lack of variance in arrangement and musicality, particularly on the likes of Dream Dream Big Sky and Flame Thrower.

On the the opener and title track, she sings, ‘Don’t remember me for my crimes’. And despite its flaws, Nadler’s eighth studio album has more than enough to mean it will be remembered, instead, for its successes.

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