Filed under: Music | Tags: broken social scene, chilly gonzales, folk, i feel it all, i'm sorry, indie, inside and out, leslie feist, let it die, metals, mocky, monarch, mushaboom, my moon my man, past in present, secret heart, the reminder
Have you ever heard “Monarch” by Leslie Feist? It’s her first “album,” so to speak. It’s actually so irrelevant that in her big documentary DVD its existence isn’t even mentioned. If you ever bother to check it out, you’ll hear it’s a rough and tumble pop record. It jams pretty hard, all things considered (the things being considered here are that it’s Feist), and reveals the portrait of a strong female musician with a lot of spunk and earnest talent. Feist’s crowning gem, in my opinion, however, is the chilled out “Let It Die” that really put Feist on a map (besides her constant cameos in Broken Social Scene). It’s here that Feist marries her unharnessed energy with synthetic pulses, driving shakers, falsetto melodies, and fat bass lines. Songs like “Mushaboom,” “One Evening,” and “Inside + Out” are wonderful pop tunes coming from an unconventional ether. Of course there are still slowed down ballads like the eponymous “Let It Die” and even more barren tracks like “Gatekeeper.” (Although the “One-Room-One-Hour” remix of it is a swirling, uptempo, jazzy rendition.) But even when Feist slows it down on “Let It Die (the album now, not just the song)” there’s still a sense of urgency. Even if it’s just a hi-hat driving the song, it’s doing just that: driving. On “Leisure Suite” organ and synths skitter in and out making the song feel unpredictable and exciting. It’s when Feist went more artsy and collaborative on “The Reminder” that I found myself losing favor in her sound.
Yes, I’m still blown away by her prowess: “I’m Sorry,” “I Feel It All, “My Moon My Man,” “Past In Present,” “Sea Lion Woman,” and the wildly popular “1,2,3,4″ all come immediately to mind when thinking of her Grammy winning record. Yet, on any given day I prefer the heart and soul that lingers on the poppy “Let It Die” in comparison to the raw, almost cold-sounding “The Reminder.” Sure, “The Reminder” clearly got all sorts of accolades for being a work of art; how Feist and her fellow friends/musicians made it is very… artsy. But does that mean it’s necessarily better?
Go see Feist perform live. Her stuff jams pretty hard. “I Feel It All” and “My Moon My Man” are increased in tempo exponentially. Whenever possible Leslie loves to just… yell. She squeals, harks “Yeah!” into the microphone, and altogether unleashes a near primal version of herself when she hits the stage. While watching her DVD for a second time last night, I was getting beyond juiced when I heard the live rendition of “Sea Lion Woman.” Feist starts breaking it DOWN… and really? The whole band should be jamming the fuck out. Yet as you watch them, they’re hardly playing any more intensely. You can make your records using a method as “artsy” as you want, but come on. When you’re clearly supposed to be jamming… you need to JAM! And it’s right here in this moment that makes me realize Feist is being held back.
Feist’s two most independently created records were “Monarch” and “Let It Die.” Then when she began collaborating with folks like Mocky and Chilly Gonzales, the eclectic, barren stuff started emerging. What I would give to hear Feist be… Feist again. If she continued to be the genius behind borefests like “The Water” and “The Park,” I would fully concede that she just made a natural progression towards the critically acclaimed music she’s continuing to make. But as I see her really grooving on stage and look back on her previous works, I can’t help but think there’s so much more than an indie folk singer among us. Throughout the years we’ve heard stuff like “The Reminder” and “Metals” before. They’re delicate, masterful even, exuding careful talent around every note and curve. But something like “Let It Die” is extremely precious. It’s pop music that is honest and inventive. It’s pop music that takes the talent and unique creativeness Feist and Co. brings to the indie sector and makes it accessible like a huge John Mayer single.
I love Leslie Feist, I really do. But from where I’m standing, I think she’s capable of so much more; she has the ability to make so many more waves and move so many more mountains. She just needs to ditch those with which she’s surrounded herself. In that world, Leslie might just own the whole damn place.
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