My Coworker, The Dreamer, The Opera Singer

I heard my coworker singing the other day. Her door was shut but I could hear her voice resonating out of that cavern beneath her desk, the spot where we used to find the last temp sleeping during the slow season. It was a hollow hole that we had never attempted to close off since it kept the office cool during the summer months and brought in the sweet scent of dirt and moisture during the day, a smell that brought with it memories of dirt filled fingernails, childhood places and times we would have much rather of found ourselves in during these busy business days.

It was last Wednesday that I called on Marissa for a signature on a such-and-such for so-and-so. It was last Wednesday when I followed her down into that hole where I could hear her making those sounds that always kept my eyes off my desk and my head up in Neverland. Opening her office door I brushed away her red-healed shoes, appropriately placed at the entrance to that hole in the ground. I dropped to my knees and pushed forward into the crawlspace, sliding passed underground wires and forgotten, tear-filled tissues. I could see lights as I approached Marissa’s voice echoing off the inner chamber walls, a room that I had never known existed. There, flickering flames filled in around Marissa, as she played through her own renditions of her hidden talent that none of the other coworkers had known about. There I sat Indian style, like a child once again, and wasted away the rest of the work day till we crawled out together and went our separate ways.

Marissa Nadler’s new album Songs III: Bird On The Water is out March 15. Check out Stereogum’s "Quit Your Day Job" feature with Marissa here.

[mp3] Marissa Nadler – Dying Breed (from Songs III: Bird On The Water)
[mp3] Marissa Nadler – Diamond Heart

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