Songs III is one of the most engaging singer-songwriter releases this year Pitchfork (8.1) The most exquisite thing happening right now **** Mojo The most enchanting record from the folk underground since Joanna Newsom s Ys **** Uncut Haunting folk; the first heartbreaker of 2007 The Sunday Times Wistful new-folk so perfectly in thrall to its influences that it could pass as a lost treasure from the early 60 s Q Magazine Songs III: Bird on the Water is a dark and atmospheric record, and Nadler s most personal to date. Thematically she relates to characters living on the fringes of society. The songs revolve around the demise of a love relationship as well as eulogies and dirges. For the uninitiated, Marissa Nadler grew up in a small town in Massachusetts, where perhaps the brutal winters bred into her a chilly disposition and an early propensity for the darker and more melancholy side of things. Marissa s first LPs were of home recordings. Ballads of Living and Dying was a release that Pitchfork called a landscape you may want to get lost in for a century or two." A second album of home recordings, The Saga of Mayflower May has garnered the same acclaim with Pitchfork calling it simply an "enthralling album". It was inevitable that Marissa would rise from the underground to reach a wider audience. Her music is dreamy and spectral: an amalgam of traditional folk, paisley underground, shoegaze, and dream pop. Almost all of the songs are very sad about broken hearts, death, or simple burdens. Her voice is what most people immediately respond to, with the writing and playing yielding a slow burn subtlety. Excelling at a Fahey-esque finger-picking technique, she plays homage to some of the great early American blues players. Songs III is certainly her most cohesive album to date and exquisite, essential listening for fans of the 4AD canon, Joanna Newsom, and Jolie Holland - for starters.