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Boston singer Marissa Nadler may look and act reserved, but her music is as attention-grabbing as any on the current folk scene. Across five albums — with her latest, self-titled release out this past month — she's earned a reputation and critical appraisal beyond her years, and above her peers.

We recently spoke with Nadler about her Kickstarter-funded recording process, visions for a worthwhile career and the best way to interact with a supportive fanbase.

Was there motivation behind self-titling your fifth record, or was it done on a whim?

I feel like every artist should have a self-titled record. I hadn't done it yet, and I felt that this was a very strong collection. It wasn't like saying “This is me, this is what I'm about” in a way that puts down my other records.

Though I'm sure all of your music is very personal, did you feel like these songs were more introspective or representative of your real life?

It is (more introspective), but all my songs are written in the first person. I don't want to create too much of a distinction between my records, but the songs are even more personal, with every new record I make.

Of the possible paths a music career can take, it's probably more fulfilling in the long run to have a collection of strong records, as opposed to peaks and valleys of hype.

Yeah, exactly. It's important to think of your career as a whole. But always thinking of the next album.

Will this upcoming tour be the first time that material from your latest record has been performed live?

Yeah, one of the first times. I just got back from another, smaller tour and that was the first time I got to play the songs from record number five.

Is the challenge of performing new material fulfilling for you, creatively?

I think it is. I'm more emotionally connected to the newer songs. If you sing a song too many times, you can loose track. It's harder, obviously, to play the songs you don't know as well. But I've been practicing a lot!

Where did the idea come from to help fund through the album through fan contributions, via Kickstarter?

I'd heard about Kickstarter from other people. It's kind of like people are pre-ordering the record, in some ways, because the contributions aren't really donations. If people gave a certain amount, they got (the record). It was a lot of work, but I didn't feel like going through the process of finding another record label. It seems like more and more artists are using these modern developments, to get their records out without a company involved.

How did that approach change the outcome of the record?

One thing is that I didn't have anyone telling me “We need to get this out.” I've always been on indie labels, so I've never had people giving me too much guidance. There wasn't anything I couldn't do. If anything, this (approach) just made me want to make a better record for the fans.