Quit Your Day Job: Marissa Nadler
Gothy, classic-sounding psych-folk siren Marissa Nadler possesses a dark, crystalline voice that's continued to grow gorgeously ethereal and especially dusky with each release. On her third full-length Songs III: Bird On The Water she's at the top of her game, downright brilliant as she covers Leonard Cohen's "Famous Blue Raincoat" and plops any number of dead birds on her loved ones' graves. Greg Weeks's expanded production, plus an acid-tinged arsenal of strings, smoke, and synths -- and finger-picking multi-instrumentalist Jesse Sparhawk -- cements the outing as her strongest effort to date.
Last year a friend and I recorded Nadler singing her 2004 track "Box of Cedar" in my bathtub. (Somehow, she made the tiny tiny room sound like a cathedral.) We've periodically kept in touch, and since she's mentioned writing from work, I decided to ask her about that until-now mysterious day job.
STEREOGUM: So, you're a temp?
MARISSA NADLER: Yes, I work for a temp agency in between touring -- partially because it can be maddening to sit in your house all of the time. You can't make a schedule out of creativity; or at least i can't will myself to write songs and practice on a schedule. Nobody's going to hire you for a real job when you leave for tour all the time, so I take these odd jobs from the temp agency.
STEREOGUM: How'd you first get involved in this line of work?
MARISSA NADLER: After I came back from my last tour and realized I had a long span of time before my record came out -- like at least 7 months. I'd tried being an art teacher in Harlem for a while after Grad School but the principal didn't like that I was always leaving. (Before touring, after college) I was a really bad art teacher -- way way too shy. I would basically get the same stage fright I get performing in front of the kids. Kids can sense fear like dogs. It was a trip. I was all torn up over a break-up and spent the entire year washing paintbrushes and crying into the sink, and all the kids were asking what was wrong with me to the principal. Looking back on it, it is pretty humorous. So, after that, sitting at a desk job seemed better because with temp jobs there is always an end in sight. Temping seemed the natural choice. The first job was as a swim team secretary. Here, I learned what waxed chests look like and how to input data...
STEREOGUM: Tell me more about this swim team stint.
MARISSA NADLER: I was the Brown University Swim Team's official Secretary. It couldn't be further from what I was trained in. All these college kids would come into the office in Speedos and waxed chests and it was really hard not to laugh, you know? Going to art school, I really never was exposed to a lot of athletes in general. I don't even think I have ever seen a body in real life like those. So healthy and untainted by ink and metal and disease. I learned a lot about recruiting athletes for division one schools.
STEREOGUM: Just as I suspected -- folk dudes wax their chests, right?
MARISSA NADLER: No. Never. Folk dudes and musicians in general are generally more hairy than the average man. It's the aesthetic. I think the less beats, the more hair, and reverse.
STEREOGUM: What's your current temp gig?
MARISSA NADLER: For the last four months I've been the IACUC coordinator...that's the Institute for Animal Care and Use Committee at Brown.
STEREOGUM: What's that mean exactly?
MARISSA NADLER: I make lots of copies. I shred lots of papers. I answer the phone, "Animal Care, may I help you, " about 500 times a day. Make spread sheets on Excel. Input data about scientists and researchers into the File Maker Pro database. Take notes at meetings. Wear seamed stockings and high heels and try to get really secretarial, you know.
STEREOGUM: Ever see that movie Secretary?
MARISSA NADLER: Yes. I think she was really hot in that movie. I am not a cutter, though. I find other ways to get rid of the tension.
STEREOGUM: Do your co-workers know about your music?
MARISSA NADLER: Yes, they knew something was weird about me from the start, I suppose. Coming in all hung over with mascara raccoon eyes, falling asleep on the desk. Listening to Earth really soft while doing my Excel spread sheets, taking weeks off for trips to Belgium and Spain. But they are all really nice and supportive, though. I really dig some of my co-workers. I just have a hard time waking up, getting to work by 8 every morning. Day jobs suck - the dreadful routine of them. There is no way around it. My real goal in life is to at all costs never work one. You end up with secretarial spread, and computer eyes. It will be the death of me.
STEREOGUM: Have you gotten together with co-workers outside the office?
MARISSA NADLER: Actually, yes. Its funny, but being a touring, full-time musician can be a really lonely life. My friends are scattered all over the world. I actually went out for drinks with one of the guys and have gone on a couple dates with one of the animal care workers.
STEREOGUM: Do they go to your shows?
MARISSA NADLER: Its weird, no. I don't want the worlds to collide.
STEREOGUM: Can you foresee a period in the future without a day job?
MARISSA NADLER: Yes, very soon.
STEREOGUM: I think I already know the answer to this, but-- Are you
replying to these at work?
MARISSA NADLER: Yes, I spend most of the day on my personal email
doing bookings.
STEREOGUM: Ever get caught?
MARISSA NADLER: I think they've just accepted it--so, the answer's yes. But I type really fast, so I rationalize that I am getting done what I need to do. Why not double task?
Marissa Nadler - "Silvia" (MP3)
Songs III: Bird On The Water is out out 3/7 on Peacefrog.
Is your co-worker a rock star? E-mail tips at stereogum.com.
Posted at 2:44 PM by brandon in MP3, Quit Your Day Job
Tags: Marissa Nadler
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And somewhere, the dudes from Earth are listening to Marissa Nadler really soft while.... I don't know. I will have to wait for Stosuy/Stereogum to interview the dudes from Earth!
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Interesting that she never really explains what an IACUC office does (answer: helps scientists get approval to conduct animal research by making sure said research will be done according to ethical standards). Afraid of alienating the folks, perhaps? Or did it just not make it into the transcribed part of the conversation?
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that's interesting--she's right though, day jobs(at least the ones I've had), mostly suck and can be incredibly boring and tedious. Especially for artistic types.
If I could afford it, I wouldn't choose to have one--I think I could think of other things to do to pass the time.
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go risd
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This is such a good idea for a regular colulmn.
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What a fantastic feature, made all the more ironic that I am currently working a temp job myself between (decidedly non-artistic) gigs
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Charles Ives had a day job so (he felt) the need to eat didn't compromise his artistic integrity. And a dayjob he was good at, he's actually well known in the insurance world for something i don't care to remember the details of related to insurance.
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Beautiful girl, beautiful music. I got to make it out to one of her shows...
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I agree. This is an EXCELLENT idea for a column. You should interview some folks who have really, really horrible day jobs, though. For example, half the indie rock stars currently out there worked at the strip of cafes and restaurants and video stores on Beford Ave. between N.9th and N.4th. I'm sure you could find some up n' comers there right now.
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Anyone want to look up her number and see if she answers?
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oh, i thought the theory was that she lived solely on the nectar of nubile young rock star men?
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Interesting that she never really explains what an IACUC office does (answer: helps scientists get approval to conduct animal research by making sure said research will be done according to ethical standards). Afraid of alienating the folks, perhaps? Or did it just not make it into the transcribed part of the conversation?
That? Is so fucked up that I don't even know where to begin. Way to go, "witch sister." I can't say I'm surprised by the situational ethics on display. sadly.
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Can we never escape the small mindedness of people who hold artists to moral standards they themselves never attempt to attain? If the folks who are complaining that Missy Nads is working for a very brief time as a secratary in an office that does something that doesn't jive with their standards feed the same socio-economic system by living and consuming in a capitalistic world that in some way utilises their money for deeds which also fail to jive with those same standards, then hypocrasy is alive and well. In other words, unless you live in a yurt and power your computer by bicycle and battery, you too are supporting a system that is doing fucked up shit to this world. Don't waist my ears complaining about someone else when you could spend the same time promoting positive action, or even taking it yourself. How about that for a place to start?
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ok, can i just kvetch about her music being lame and derivative, then?
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What does living off the grid have to do with anything?
There are noble ways in which to live within the system and there are the wrong ways you can conduct yourself, depending on how you are projecting yourself to your audience. If you are an artist portraying yourself in one strict role for your audience, you should hold the rest of your life to that role. Otherwise, you are merely just an actor.
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Actor?
Pragmatism.
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Is someone really attacking Marissa Nadler because of her temporary day job? That's crazy. And for one person's snipe that her music is "lame and derivative," there are at least 1,000 more professing their love for it on her MySpace page. I'm in the latter camp, and I've never met a musician who is more hellbent on bringing beauty into the world through her music. Mission: accomplished.
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>And for one person's snipe that her music is "lame >and derivative," there are at least 1,000 more >professing their love for it on her MySpace page.
Because if a lot of people like it MUST be good.
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"Can we never escape the small mindedness of people who hold artists to moral standards they themselves never attempt to attain?"
I like the way you really engage with the point by just putting the poster down as small-minded and questioning their moral standards.
"Don't waist my ears complaining about someone else when you could spend the same time promoting positive action, or even taking it yourself."
Right back atcha.
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Marissa has now "quit her day job" which was planned far before this article - well- it was a TEMP job after all- the one in mention which she only worked for one month-and is now living from gig to gig on tour for the next four months. So, I think it would be a good time to stop the converstation about what kind of Temp jobs she worked for a couple months in order to pay her rent. It seems like people just look for excuses to say hurtful things about others.
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Marissa has now "quit her day job" which was planned far before this article - well- it was a TEMP job after all- the one in mention which she only worked for one month-and is now living from gig to gig on tour for the next four months. So, I think it would be a good time to stop the converstation about what kind of Temp jobs she worked for a couple months in order to pay her rent. It seems like people just look for excuses to say hurtful things about others.
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fair enough. can we continue to talk about how her music sounds like stevie nicks filtered through a haze of bad early 2000s freak folk?
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i luv this column!
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this feature is totally interesting. i just hope in the future they feature more interesting music to go along with it.
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I saw her at South By Southwest and it was... not so good. I liked her CDs so I was surprised by how bad she sounded live. Very disappointing, sad to say :(
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I saw Marissa at SXSW and I have to say it was.....amazing! I had never heard of her, but knew that the sound at that festival was god-aweful and she performed like true star. I'm now a fan for life.
Thanks for the very interesting column and interview.
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Awesome column. I am likin Nadler's new album very much!
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