The Reminder

FEISTTHE REMINDER

Forcing myself to take a break from somewhat recent Lucinda Williams, Neko Case and Joanna Newsom albums, I found myself stumped in the record store. This only happens, shamefully, when I’m trying to find an album by a female artist that I actually think I’ll listen to more than three times. Lucky for me, both Feist and Tori Amos had brand spankin’ new albums on the shelf as I browsed the aisles. I gave both albums a listen (thanks to some worn thin listening stations). Both sounded good, so I gave ‘em both a brief second listen. Nothing against Amos and her fans-only new album, but Feist’s third album, The Reminder, took round two with authority. And not just because Feist’s album cover is exactly one billion times better.

If you’re the one Feist fan who’s still not hip to the gal’s impressive, telling resume, well, keep on reading. After nearly ruining her voice as a punk singer in the late 90s, Leslie Feist decided to pick up an acoustic  guitar. Soon enough she was not only working and touring with Peaches, but also living with her and recording a footing-finder debut album. Feist eventually joined Canada’s Broken Social Scene for their classic album, You Forgot It In People, finding her sound somewhere along the way. Broken Social Scene’s record label, Arts & Crafts, happily released Feist’s sophomore solo album, Let It Die, to minor success. All of this, clearly, was leading up to something great. Something called The Reminder.

Mature, intelligent and instantly accessible, Feist’s 50-minute album passes faster than a Ramones record, leaving her fellow oddball female contemporaries - Amos, Bjork, etc. - in her dust. Recorded and wrapped up in seven days in March of 2006, The Reminder has spent the last year sitting in Interscope/Universal Records’ queue, waiting for an open slot on the label’s marketing schedule. Though she’s not marketable at first blush, after seeing the video for her excellent “1234” and spacing through The Reminder a few times, well, I’m convinced the gal can do anything, including achieve some sort of mainstream success.

As for the tunes, well, they’re really not all that different from Let It Die, though Feist dose sound much more comfortable up front. Gone are most of the bossa nova, folk and jazz elements heard prominently on Let It Die, replaced gracefully by a stewing pit of genre bits similar to everything for Fiona Apple and Cat Power to the fine ladies listed above to Beth Orton and Joni Mitchell. The clearest difference between Let It Die and The Reminder is Feist’s more developed concepts and structures; where Let it Die often felt like experiments/lessons, everything about The Reminder sounds perfectly blatant. Her much talked about voice - a fine mix of indie and soul - sounds more diverse and developed than ever.

Lazy music made for roadtrips with your girlfriend or girly friends? Who cares; the girl recorded the album leisurely with friends in a house rigged with microphones just outside of Paris. While Radiohead, Bjork, Amos and so many others labor over their albums for weeks, months and years, some folks just simply just have “it.” Feist, for one, has “it.” The Reminder is the type of album fans will be listening to for years and years to come. It’s sweet, mature, comforting, fun and easy. And let’s face it, anyone old (or young) enough to grasp the power of music needs a little of the ‘ol fun and easy from time to time.  8/10

Written by G. William Locke