Marissa Nadler and John Cale Collaborate On New Song "Poison"

Boston singer/songwriter Marissa Nadler released her eighth studio album, For My Crimes, last year and today she’s following it up with a pair of new singles. Packaged together as “Poison Summer” via KRO Records, the first song, “Poison,” features vocals from Velvet Underground legend John Cale while the second track, “If We Make It Through the Summer,” is a solo track.

This is what Nadler had to say about her experience with Cale:

“Sometimes it’s best not to know in advance; that’s what I continually remind myself about how this duet with legendary songwriter John Cale came together. Had I known that Justin [Raisen] and Lawrence [Rothman] would arrange for Cale to sing ‘Poison’ with me before I wrote or recorded it, I cannot be certain I wouldn’t have become frozen with hesitations and second-guessing.

"How do you even start to go about writing a duet with a member of the Velvet Underground? Surely I might have nervously changed the lyric that accidentally namechecks a title of a Velvet Underground song (“Run Run Run”), at the very least. For me, Cale is one of the most influential rock musicians, remaining admirably hard to pin down. His appearance on this song was a complete surprise to me, but the instant I heard it I knew that this was the way the song was meant to be heard.”

Marissa Nadler will be in Seattle on Tuesday, March 5 to play the Sunset Tavern. Below, listen to “Poison” and “If We Make It Through the Summer” and watch Nadler’s KEXP in-studio performance from last year.