Mercury

*Mercury* is an absorbing set of guitar instrumentals by Portland, Ore.–based Marisa Anderson. Over 16 succinct tracks, she touches a wide range of styles. Playing lap steel and electric and acoustic guitar, she mixes up twang, country blues, Appalachian influences, and open-tuned explorations that flow smoothly one to the next. Concise and never flashy, she dazzles with her dexterity and earthy feel. Her set-up is sparse. Using just an amp, a microphone, and her instruments, she conjures images of open landscapes and spacious skies on these tunes, many of which were recorded in one take. Aside from a boost to create some distortion, she uses no pedals. Still, it\'s remarkable how many different guitar tones she gets, ranging from intimate and rich to sharp and searing. Galloping one moment and gliding the next, Anderson\'s music has a cinematic and mysterious quality, and *Mercury* is a rich and evocative recording.

Mercury is the brilliant new album of acoustic and electric whirlwinds from Portland, Ore., guitarist Marisa Anderson. Through its 16 tracks, Anderson unfolds as a master of stylistic swivels, pushing from steady-handed blues staggers to open-road pontifications, from understated ragas to psychedelic meditations with a deliberate quality that belies the record’s title. She’s a fleet, dexterous picker with a broad sense of what her guitar can do...Pitchfork.com May 10 2013 THREE THINGS will happen when you listen to Marisa Anderson's Mercury: you'll instantly get used to it, you'll never get tired of it, and you'll be flooded by your own personal filmstrip of dusty roads, rusty trains, craggy mountains, and weathered faces. -Portland Mercury June 2013 Applying classical technique to a boundless creative imagination and a deep reverence for American folk, blues and country music, Marisa Anderson’s guitar playing is fluid, emotional, dexterous and original. Signal to Noise magazine calls Anderson's guitar work "Utterly fabulous", and Time Out London referred to her playing as "Stunning...haunting and evocative". On 'Mercury', out June 5 on Mississippi Records, Anderson channels the history of the guitar and stretches the boundaries of tradition. 'Mercury' picks up where Anderson's acclaimed record 'The Golden Hour' leaves off, featuring sixteen compositions for solo guitar and lap steel, recorded live in single takes, with no overdubs, looping or electronic layering. In the past two years, Anderson’s music has landed her festival appearances in Europe and the United States and opening slots for artists including Sharon Van Etten, Daniel Higgs and Thao and Mirah. Before landing in Portland in the late nineties, Anderson dropped out of college at age nineteen to walk across the United States and didn’t stop traveling for fifteen years. “Mercury” is a direct result of Anderson’s peripatetic existence, reflecting years of living in cars, tents and buses, traveling to Mexico with a circus, walking, hitchhiking and playing guitar.