From the Event Guide, July 2008
The Beautiful One
By Aoife Barry
New York-based Nina Nastasia is a woman blessed with a voice that has the power to stop the listener is his or her tracks. It’s beautiful, strong yet fragile, and utterly compelling. Her debut album, ‘Dogs’, gained cult status after John Peel played tracks from it on his radio show after being given a copy by Steve Albini (who has recorded all of Nina’s albums) – it went from being an out-of-print album to being released in 2002 by Socialist Records and hailed as one of this decade’s most acclaimed debuts. Since then, Nina has gone on to release four other albums, the last of which, ‘You Follow Me’ was in collaboration with Dirty Three drummer Jim White and somewhat divided listeners. She recently released the single ‘What She Doesn’t Know’ on the Fat Cat label in February and is hoping to release a new solo album this year.
Those of us who aren’t musicians must wonder what it’s like to return home after being on tour – surely it’s nice to sleep in your own bed, relax at home and get away from the rigours of life on the road? Not so in the case of Nina Nastasia, it seems. “I’m good – I have been home for a little bit, for a couple of months so it has been kind of nice,” she says when asked what she’s up to at the moment. But that’s swiftly followed by: “I usually don’t like to be home but I like it this time. I prefer touring around.” This admission is one that is quite startling. A softly-spoken, funny and seemingly shy person, one would imagine she would relish the time spent off stage.
So is it the case that, as Alan Sparhawk of Low said in a recent interview, getting home after touring can be an anti-climax because there no longer is that ‘goal’ of doing a show each day? “That is true for me as well,” agrees Nina. “I get home and a lot of the time I get a little bit down for a little while because I don’t really know what to do with myself and I am not very disciplined either, so it takes a lot for me to get stuff done. It’s a bit of an adjustment.”
