Of course, this is an illusion. The instrumentation and musical arrangement is sparse, and has always been so, its grandiosity merely a suggestion made by the considerable drama of her songwriting.
Nastasia’s recent collaborative effort with Dirty Three drummer Jim White yielded 2007’s You Follow Me, the most minimal album she has yet released, consisting only of Nastasia’s guitar and White’s boundless drumming. Still, this music is so visceral and fully formed that it overtakes the listener, a feat witnessed last Friday at Chicago’s Schubas Tavern.
Nastasia and White performed to a sold-out crowd, showcasing songs from You Follow Me with breathtaking results. Some of the genius of Nastasia and White’s music is that despite its minimal instrumentation, the seemingly free-form drumming, and the simplicity of the music, there is not a note out of place.
The best way to describe the musical juxtaposition — Nastasia’s beautiful folk-derived music with White’s inventive drumming — is that one more instrument would clutter the affair.
Nastasia’s songs were rock solid as always, and expressively sung without any pretension. “Late Night” was the finest song of the evening with its massive dynamic shifts from gentle to pounding. On jarring tune “Our Discussion,” White’s intuition as a player was remarkable, filling the empty spaces with emotive brushing and graceful trails that seemed to hang from each note.
There was not a wrong step in the evening, with other highlights being You Follow Me‘s “Odd Said The Doe” and a solo rendition of “Dumb I Am” from Nastasia’s 2006 effort On Leaving.
– Mike McGovern
Nina Nastasia: www.myspace.com/ninanastasia
Jim White/The Dirty Three: www.anchorandhope.com
Fat-Cat Records: www.fat-cat.co.uk
Touch & Go Records: www.tgrec.com