Outlaster is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Nina Nastasia. It was released by FatCat Records internationally on June 7, 2010, and in the United States on June 22. The album was recorded in four days at Steve Albini's Electrical Audio studio in Chicago. Los Angeles-based arranger Paul Bryan conducted score for a small orchestra, with Nastasia and her manager Kennan Gudjonsson assembling string and woodwind quartets. The record also features contributions from drummer Jay Bellerose and guitarist Jeff Parker.
Although no producer is listed in the liner notes, Gudjonsson is described as the musical director, with Bryan later confirming Gudjonsson as the producer. Gudjonsson also created the artwork alongside Dave Thomas. The album received generally positive reviews upon release, with multiple publications praising Nastasia's vocals and songwriting, as well as the quality of the orchestration and production.
"Cry, Cry, Baby" was released on May 10 as the first single from the album, followed by "You Can Take Your Time" on December 6. Each single contained an exclusive b-side: "Our Gang" and "One Turned In", respectively. Nastasia toured throughout Europe and performed sessions for several radio stations and websites in support of the record.
Background and recording
Recording sessions for the album took place over the course of four days at Steve Albini's Electrical Audio in Chicago, from March 9 to March 12, 2009. Nastasia said the relatively short amount of time spent in the studio was the result of "using a bigger band, flying more people over, and such. The costs were higher, so we needed to get more done in a shorter time." Although no record producer was listed in the album credits, Nastasia's manager Kennan Gudjonsson was listed as the "musical director". Paul Bryan, who arranged and conducted the orchestral and woodwind instrumentation, confirmed Gudjonsson as the "de facto" producer of the record.
Nastasia composed every song on the album, and said Bryan and Gudjonsson collaborated to create the orchestration, with Bryan arranging the string and woodwind instrumentation and Gudjonsson hiring the musicians. The band and string section would rehearse for several hours prior to recording. Nastasia said several of the backing tracks, in particular "This Familiar Way", had "big holes in it for improvising." In his recording diary, Bryan said the band and orchestral quartet completed the backing tracks in the first three days. He elaborated that "things got off to an alarmingly slow start, but we eventually fell into a groove; I would rehearse the strings while Nina, [drummer] Jay Bellerose and [guitarist] Jeff Parker would fool around with ideas. Once I felt we were ready to track, I would grab a bass and hope that we could pull off something usable while the tape was still rolling." Bryan's piano and the woodwind quartet were overdubbed on the fourth day, with Albini completing the mixing of the record that same night.
Lyrically, fatality and immortality are major themes running throughout the album. Nastasia said she took an interest in the work of Aubrey de Grey, a gerontologist who has "talked a lot about viewing aging as a disease, which is an interesting way to look at it. It's a little controversial as an idea, but having this idea of trying to work towards curing aging, or trying to reverse it—then what does that mean, what would it mean to society if we didn't age any more? Or if we could reverse it? Or if we could live for over 1000 years?" She elaborated that the title track specifically "deals with the discomfort of the idea of living for a long time, especially if your loved ones didn't go along with you."
Several songs on Outlaster were performed live prior to their inclusion on the album. "Cry, Cry, Baby" was performed in December 2002 on John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show, under the title "Cry Baby". Similarly, "You Can Take Your Time" was performed during Nastasia's June 2004 Peel Session with Tuvan throat singing group Huun-Huur-Tu. The Outlaster version of the latter song was first released almost a year prior to the album, when it appeared on the August 2009 edition of FatCat Records's annual sampler.
