Send "Nina Nastasia " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 Though Nina Nastasia is known for writing sparse, haunted folk songs, none of her albums have ever sounded plain or unadorned. She's never limited herself to simply acoustic guitar and voice, frequently working with strings in some form on nearly all of her albums since her debut, 2004's Dogs. Outlaster, her latest record, is the first to have a full (if small) orchestra appearing on every track. It's a switch to hear her among so many collaborators when some of her best recent work-- like 2007's You Follow Me, a woefully overlooked and impregnable batch of songs-- was put together with just one, drummer Jim White. The interplay between them was gripping enough to make any listener forget it was the work of only two people. So why the need for so many more?Though Nastasia is still at the center of these songs, Outlaster is the work of musicians listening closely and reacting to one another, and the spirit of collaboration is what gives these songs life. Bear in mind that Nastasia worked with both Jim White and various string players on 2006's On Leaving, a record with songs so spare they barely registered; the change on the following two albums is audible in more than a few ways. The strings and woodwinds on Outlaster are applied with the same rigor and taste that she's exhibited over her career, and they make each of these songs more vivid without turning them soggy with sentimentality. Even as they flirt with Eastern tones on "You're a Holy Man" or a severe Eastern-bloc tango on "This Familiar Way", they bring out new elements and tones in Nastasia's songs that feel like they'd been lurking underneath all along. As striking as the arrangements are, there's still a place for the nuance that's typified Nastasia's work. "You're a Holy Man" is likely the most crowded room Nastasia's ever recorded in, with full strings, drums, and electric guitar, but all are as nimble as Nastasia herself, as they carefully accent the melodically intricate track. Likewise, a quick staccato pluck of violin strings adds palpable suspense to the opening verse of "What's Out There" before building to the more typically tense triplets behind Nastasia's deep wail later on. And when the orchestra holds back for the first verse of "Wakes", it lends all the more weight to the gorgeous moment when it comes in just before the second....full text |
| Drownedinsound |
| Nina Nastasia stated that the early days of this album's gestation were difficult ones, with the songstress unsure of where to the take the record, wondering if she had run out of ideas. In some respects Outlaster does in fact feel like something of a culmination of Nastasia's back catalogue. The arrangements are as precisely tailored as on You Follow Me and at times as sparse as Run To Ruin, yet it is probably her most lush album to date. This is mostly due to the presence of two quartets (string and woodwind) and the hand that arranger/producer Paul Bryan had in the record. Yet this isn't the usual case of bland songwriting bolstered by a bombastic orchestral backing. The extra musicians really are vital components of the record. See album opener 'Cry, Cry, Baby' where sliding ascent of the strings emphasises the sentiments in the emotionally lines "You're my only true love and I know I can't change", after the defiant verses wherein she claims she won't cry, or worry (or feel anything) for a (possibly ex-)lover. The intertwining of strings and woodwind on 'You're a Holy Man' provide perhaps the most sublime musical moment on the record; opening up with a dense fog of woodwind, a repeated woodwind refrain is taunted by searing violin as Nastasia casts doubt on the ability of the titular Holy Man to retain his faith. The drumming skills of long-time collaborator Jay Bellorose also deserves special mention, on 'Holy Man' in particular, where they seem to grow so organically from a simple tom and cymbal beat in the early verses to gargantuan tribal rolls, which along with the ominous woodwinds leave the song's end sounding ever so slightly like a folksy These New Puritans....full text |
| Bbc |
| Since 2000, Hollywood-born, New York-based singer-songwriter Nina Nastasia has been making astonishing albums that have cut listeners to the quick, leaving their bones exposed, dragging their hearts away. She has swept up some high-profile fans in the process: six sessions were recorded for John Peel, and legendary producer Steve Albini has worked with her closely throughout the last decade, calling her first album, Dogs, “one of my favourites… of the couple of thousand records I’ve been involved with”. Still largely unknown outside alternative circles, Nastasia’s bruised, balmy songs deserve a much wider audience. Outlaster is Nastasia’s sixth LP, following 2007’s You Follow Me, an experimental album fashioned with Dirty Three drummer Jim White. This is a more old-fashioned record, full of tangible tenderness and yearning strings, but there is imminent danger as it moves along languidly. Nastasia’s beautiful voice is at the heart of this, being easy to love and full of natural soul, but also handling every syllable with a quick-smart economy that teems with strength and authority. These endlessly accessible songs also have depths and twists. Cry, Cry, Baby begins with Nastasia telling her newly-former lover she won’t weep or worry any more, but later she says, coldly: “You’re my only true love / And I know I can’t change”. You Can Take Your Time swings with country spirit and reassurance, albeit with a sting in the tail (“you can take your time to work things out / It’ll be alright, just don’t screw up”), while What’s Out There exposes her talent for observation (“A wall, a window, a gnatty garden turning hotly in the heat”), as strings are plucked and bowed anarchically to create clammy atmospheres....full text |
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