Marisa Anderson—Still, Here (Thrill Jockey)
Photo by Patricia Vázquez Gómez
Still, Here by Marisa Anderson
The long, slow-changing bent notes in “The Fire this Time” speak in their own urgent timbre, more agitated and sharper than the patter of fingerpicked timekeeping they arc over. They sound a bit like an animal’s cry, a bit like sirens (there are real sirens later, sampled from this summer of unrest). Marisa Anderson’s music is, as always, lovely, serene and rooted in blues and folk traditions. But it feels more agitated here in this track, and more troubled elsewhere. Recorded in a summer of pandemic, of protest, of narrowed perspectives and limited human contact, the songs on Still, Here let the center slip. Their clarity is piercing, but chaos whorls underneath.
Anderson is, obviously, a guitarist of considerable skill, capable of rapid flurries and acrobatic turns. Yet on this album, she is remarkable for her restraint, the way she leaves the lines clean and unadorned. These songs speak to you plainly, in simple terms. The bent, twanging harmonies in “The Low Country” distill melancholy into pure, uncluttered phrases. They ring in the air for a beat or two, achieving profound impact in retrospect. You are remembering the songs even as you hear them.
A solo effort, Still, Here necessarily fixates on the unaccompanied acoustic guitar. Still, there’s a good deal of variation here. “Night Air” jitters with nocturnal energies, underlining its restless movement with percussive stabs of piano. “The Crack Where the Light Gets In,” gambols in sunnier lanes, a lighthearted folk ramble pushed subtly into modernism. And “La Llorona” waltzes across spaghetti western expanses, its serpentine Spanish guitar carving dramatic flourishes. “Beat the Drum Slowly,” which follows, is also in 3/4, but in a dreamier, more introspective way. The notes are softer, blurrier, and fuzzed with nostalgia, but hemmed in with the dark.
In times of uncertainty, you might very well look to the music Anderson interprets—folk, blues, gospel—for reassurance. But the uneasiness works its way in, even to these lovely songs. Anderson captures that conjunction of solitude and stress, of beauty in the moment and angst about what’s next, in a way that reflects very clearly on the last couple of years.
Jennifer Kelly
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marisa anderson -- in dark water
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handwritten review of Marisa Anderson - Still Here
handwritten review of Marisa Anderson – Still Here
Still, Here by Marisa Anderson
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"In Dark Water" by Marisa Anderson https://ift.tt/OIXBWwF
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Named Students III (Life is Strange)
This download is for The Sims 2.
Download: [SFS]
Even more faces to names at Blackwell Academy.
Marisa Rogers - Marisa was Chloe Price’s classmate during her time at Blackwell. In “Farewell”, the Prices receive a message from her mother Ann regarding an incident where Chloe turned on a Bunsen burner near Marisa, after Marisa allegedly made fun of Chloe’s old hoodie and called her a scholarship kid.
The rest of the students featured here were involved in the Yearbook Project.
Notes:
Marisa’s earrings and Tyler’s watch require Bon Voyage.
Custom Content Required but not Included:
Marisa: Necklace
Jasmin: Necklace Mesh
Jenny: Necklace Mesh ⚫ Necklace
Imaged Used:
Karen Arnold
Enjoy!
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A round up of photos from the week in US Tour 6 in Des Moines, IA (03-08 January 2023).
Marisa Paull Gorst lounges around backstage as Tantomile.
Gracie Anderson did her best to cover every single of her Cats as a Swing, performing in ten shows between Des Moines and Oklahoma City the weekend prior.
An intermission picture from the second show of the last day, with Sam Buchanan as Plato, Lexy Bittner as Cassandra, and Brendan Moran making his Mistoffelees cover debut.
Luke Bernier covering Rum Tum Tugger and Reagan Davidson as Tantomile, when she was not covering Victoria for multiple shows.
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