Arthur Nasson

Arthur Nasson first saw the light of day in Boston before growing up between Somerville and Winchester in Massachusetts. An instinctive feel for melody surfaced early, allowing him to reproduce radio melodies on piano long before drums and guitar entered the picture. Formal keyboard instruction soon followed, yet its rigid framework clashed with the freer jazz and nascent rock sounds drifting from the airwaves, prompting him to chart his own course. Songwriting attempts began around this time, though the groups he joined throughout his preteen and teenage years remained strictly cover-oriented. Only upon enrolling at Bard College did he start performing original material alongside fellow musicians.

Once his studies concluded, Nasson turned to self-recording, handling nearly every instrument himself on the resulting demos while occasionally enlisting his children for guest spots. Labels expressed interest, but he opted to retain full autonomy, issuing every project through his own Philistine Records. Absent conventional industry backing, the material nevertheless reached listeners attuned to its sensibility.

A limited pressing of his first album, No Mystery, appeared in 1997; renewed interest in the emerging digital landscape led to a broader reissue in 2002. That collection revealed command of intricate pop forms, ranging from the floating, Steely Dan-esque “Miracles” through the richly scored “Better Days” to the tenderly fingerpicked “Somerville Girl,” all anchored by his distinctive husky, soulful voice. The Boston Herald labeled the 2002 edition “perfect pop.”

An even more expansive successor, The Battle of Melrose Street, arrived in 2005 and prompted an appearance on National Public Radio’s Here and Now, which highlighted his self-reliant methods of creation and distribution. Subsequent projects included the largely experimental Life After Telescopes and the 2010 tour de force Echo Garden.