Nina Nastasia & Jim White Issue #33

You Follow Me (Fat Cat)

By Katerina Herodotou
Published: September 1st, 2007 | 12:00am

Jim White loves sad singers from New York. He helped with Cat Power’s Moon Pix, the record that launched her career, and now, partnering with Nina Nastasia for You Follow Me, he pulls lightly on the threads of sorrow to showcase Nastasia’s melancholic singer-songwriter at its best. Add in a third element — producer Steve Albini — and the whole project takes on an air of a family of artists, justifiably quite satisfied with their talent.

The opening track, aptly titled “I’ve Been Out Walking,” is like a stroll through the musical abilities of the two musicians. White’s percussion follows Nastasia’s gentle vocals up and down, weaving a pattern. It’s a path they continue walking on throughout the entire disc. Nastasia straddles the line between simple, bare emotion and overwrought whininess; White between subtle fervor in the background and equal seating at the table. It’s not an unfamiliar place for White, as his time in the Dirty Three can attest.

With Albini’s production, You Follow Me sounds crisp yet heavy. “How Will You Love Me,” bordering on folk, has building crescendos, whispers from both Nastasia’s voice and White’s drum set. And this effect is the best part of the collaboration — both musicians using the tools at their disposal to have a musical conversation, complementing each other or quietly disagreeing.