The night opened with a hypnotic performance by Scout Gillett and their recent release “Room of Shadows”, a title that also aptly described the ambiance of Cafe du Nord on the evening of June 26th. A cool blue glow illuminated the silhouettes of the intimate yet eager crowd in the cozy, basement-esque venue, and a single hazy spotlight shone on Gillett as they played from a wooden stool in the center of the stage. People lined the walls gazing contentedly, as others gently swayed back and forth. By the time they finished their set, Gillett had the audience transfixed, and more then ready for another serenade from the main act of the night, Marissa Nadler.

A gentle chatter broke out in the audience while Scout Gillett exited the stage. Slowly, a face framed by long black hair popped out from between the curtains on stage to peek at the crowd that had amassed, but retreated back after a quick gesture to the audio engineer at the other end of the room. The lights slowly dimmed from the cool, moonlight blue to a darker dreamy shade of indigo and the conversations amongst the audience quickly simmered down.

Marissa Nadler entered from left of stage in an elegant floor length black dress that matched her dark hair. She brought with her two guitars, one electric and one acoustic, and one hell of a presence. Before she even played a single note, the audience was captivated. Excited fans in the front row had their cameras poised and ready to capture the spectacle. Nadler coyly requested them not to photograph until she had found her groove, revealing a vulnerable side that contrasted her striking appearance that would have made anyone think that she was born for the stage.

After a deep breath, she opened with “Storm”, a gauzy tune that immediately evoked a visceral sense of summertime sadness. Elongated notes reverberated from her glossy electric guitar and hung on the crowd like hot air on a humid night. Nadler’s vocals were somehow airy and angelic, yet also heavy and repentant, akin to what I imagine a siren song to sound like. She transitioned into “Bessie, Did You Make it?”, calling this song a reverse murder ballad, only further cementing her siren-esque persona in my mind. Her simplistic and deconstructed melodies managed to fill up the whole room, despite Nadler taking up only a small portion of center stage. She finished the rendition with a languishing guitar solo, leaving the crowd in an enchanted daze, hanging on every note.

She switched out her electric guitar for an acoustic one as she moved on to a song from her latest record, “Lemon Queen”. She closed her eyes, leading instead with heart and soul, and serenaded the audience with layered melancholic harmonies. The audience never stood a chance; they were bewitched by Marissa Nadler’s heart-aching choruses. If Nadler was a siren, and the audience a crew at sea, they had undeniably been lured off course and into her musical thralls.