“Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” So said “honorary doctorate” bestseller Stephen King. Regardless of your views on the assembly-line horror master, there is a lot to be said for hard work. It does take a LOT of hard work to get very good at something.
Someone else who is very good at something — namely, the guitar — is Marisa Anderson, who will finally release her latest album, Cloud Corner, June 15 on Thrill Jockey.
If you’re not up to speed: Marisa Anderson is a sickeningly skilled guitarist. (Yeah, and water is wet.) But this talented musician also possesses truly special traits that aren’t easily birthed OR practiced. Whether she is interpreting traditional and public domain songs or creating empathetic originals, getting sounds so solid and so spacious simultaneously is nothing short of a miracle. Her style is the embodiment of “American music” and she is one of the few instrumentalists that can tell a story and retell a history.
Pre-order Cloud Corner at Thrill Jockey or on Anderson’s Bandcamp now, and listen to Cloud Corner’s titular track down below, followed by tracklist and live dates. Among those listed below are unmissable shows with Circuit des Yeux (!) and Godspeed! You Black Emperor (!) and appearances at two of the best fret-centric festivals in the U.S.: The Thousand Incarnations of the Rose and Pickathon.
Cloud Corner tracklisting:
01. Pulse
02. Slow Ascent
03. Angel’s Rest
04. Cloud Corner
05. Sanctuary
06. Sun Song
07. Lament
08. Sant Feliu de Guíxols
09. Surfacing
10. Lift
Marisa Anderson live:
03.30.18 - Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
04.06.18 - Madison, WI - University of Wisconsin @ Der Rathskeller #
04.07.18 - Louisville, KY - Zanzabar #
04.09.18 - Durham, NC - Duke’s Coffeehouse #
04.10.18 - Asheville, NC - The Mothlight #
04.11.18 - Knoxville, TN - The Pilot Light #
04.14.18 - Takoma Park, MD - Takoma Park Community Center Auditorium %
05.19.18 - Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre $
05.21.18 - Phoenix, AZ - The Van Buren $
05.22.18 - San Diego, CA - The Observatory $
05.23.18 - Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern $
05.24.18 - Santa Ana, CA - The Observatory North Park $
05.25.18 - Pioneertown, CA - Pappy & Harriet’s Pioneertown Palace $
05.26.18 - North Fork, CA - Bandit Town $
05.28.18 - Santa Cruz, CA - Rio Theatre $
05.29.18 - Oakland, CA - Fox Theater $
06.02.18 - Garden City, ID - Visual Arts Collective $
06.03.18 - Seattle, WA - Neptune Theatre $
06.04.18 - Vancouver, BC - Vogue Theatre $
08.03-05.18 - Happy Valley, OR - Pendarvis Farm ^
# Circuit des Yeux
% The Thousand Incarnations of the Rose Festival
$ Godspeed You! Black Emperor
^ Pickathon Festival
More about: Marisa Anderson
