Sunday night we went to see two beautiful mavens of contemporary folk, Marissa Nadler and Alela Diane. They both have beautiful voices and are great songwriters, and Alela's concert was very stripped-down and pure, much like her c.d.. (It's interesting how some performers are very consistent live, whereas some do completely unexpected things in concert; I've seen Neko Case perform three times and each time was different; once she brought a Baltic women's choir onstage, once an eighty-year-old female yodelling champion. I love them both!) I hadn't heard much from Nadler before except one song which I loved called Diamond Heart. But having heard the recording didn't prepare me for seeing her perform it live, which actually brought tears to my eyes. She was very nervous and shy onstage, but when she sang this song, her voice was so clear and haunting, a word that gets overused these days, but is accurate in this case; it was perfect.
Here she is looking like an ethereal, gothy, desert fairy. I'll take that dress, please! And because I've somehow managed to delete my new playlist, to which I'd added that song, here she is singing it live so beautifully in what looks to be a pretty rinky-dink little cd shop; but still, she sounds amazing.
I'm busily working away on new dolls, ornaments and pendants for my next shop update which will take place as early in December as possible. But my back is starting to complain about all the sculpting and sanding of teeny tiny heads, so I can't push it too hard. Most of the new pieces are still in the early stages, but I have finished one little piece; this rather tragic-looking pendant:
She hopes you're all having lovely, song-filled days...