Internationally renowned musician Marisa Anderson lives in Portland. That’s the easy part to write. But try to put her music into a genre and you’ll be fresh out of luck; unless there’s a genre called “Exquisitely Beautiful.” She’s classically trained; the combination of that with her natural talent on the strings is genius. She’s been featured in Rolling Stone Magazine, on NPR, the BBC, The Wire, Pitchfork, and then some. The bio on her website describes her music best. It “channels the history of the guitar and stretches the boundaries of tradition. Her deeply original work applies elements of minimalism, electronic music, drone and 20th-century classical music to compositions based on blues, jazz, gospel and country music, re-imagining the landscape of American music.” Take that.
If you’ve been lucky enough to hear Anderson in concert, you’ll also attest to her brilliance in storytelling and trying new things out. (She recently joined Yo La Tengo, William Tyler, and Richard Hell and the Voidoids/Lovelies founding guitarist Ivan Julian on stage in NYC.)
Anderson’s latest release, Lost Futures (2021), is a collaboration with alt-country singer/songwriter William Tyler.
Have a listen to the title song.
Video credit: Lost Thrills