Feist - The Park + It's Cool to Love Your Family

First off, how beautiful is this picture? Leslie Feist is truly something else. Her new album The Reminder made its way onto the internet yesterday. It had been one of my most awaited releases this year, and after my first listen and the revisiting of a few I'm not disapointed. I found it incredibly difficult to narrow it down to one track to highlight in this post, yet at the moment "The Park" is sticking out for me. If my memory serves correctly, it's the most minimalistic song she's ever recorded with only her heavenly vocals and acoustic guitar throughout the most of it, with the occasional touches of brass low in the mix. Also in the mix is some background noise featuring the prominent chirping of birds, and what sounds like either the ocean or wind blowing. It seems almost as if they were recorded using a handheld device as sometimes you can hear faint tape hiss and clicks, especially within the last few seconds. The effect when combined is reminiscent of Cat Power's Speaking in Trees records, except that you don't need to watch a single camera shot her standing in front of a tree for two hours (Even for the most dedicated Chan worshippers that film can be a snooze.) I need to give the song a listen with headphones soon.

Feist - The Park

The second Feist song of this entry is an old one, "It's Cool to Love Your Family." It's the first track on her impossible to find, long out of print first album Monarch released in 1999. I have no idea why it hasn't been re-released, as it's a very solid album, especially for a debut. Odd how her label would but out a remix album, but no reissue that...

Feist - It's Cool to Love Your Family


Feist @ Amazon.com