Nina Nastasia – Outlaster

 

Despite being blessed with a name that sounds like a major label’s riposte to Christina Aguilera, Nina Nastasia is much vaunted in indieland. The New York songstress’s first five LPs – all orchestrated by legendary ‘engineer’ Steve Albini – garnered gasps for their pin-dropping atmospherics. With such long-standing form, it’s unsurprising to find Outlaster continuing down this melancholic road. Nastasia’s elasticised vocal, ranging from soaring cry to weeping purr, is key to the allure of A Kind Of Courage and What’s Out There. Blackened by a moratorium of creaking strings, each track plays out as a devilish micro-drama filled with love, loss and tragedy. But for all the beautiful execution, Outlaster is often failed by its inability to shift gear, choosing to amble, instead of charge, through dreary fare like You Can Take Your Time. The gasping moments still come, but this time they're interspersed with a few yawns. [Billy Hamilton]