Listening to fourth album of Feist: Metals, automatically brings your thoughts to her previous albums as you’re comparing the new songs to the old ones. And, yes, the organic sound filled with galumphing beats has lots of difference with the single “1234” in The Reminder. The “1234” era that has brought her to one of the catchy-est single in 2007 is over, replaced by darker tunes, rich with more elements in percussions and electric guitar rythm, varying brass and string sessions, not to mention; darker lyrics.
The feathery voice of Leslie Feist is still he first thing that makes you want to listen to the album, but if you are aware of her previous work, you can call this album A Transformation. It’s also the theme of the title Metals. Metal as in one of the earth’s element, a symbol of transformation. An experiment done without setting limits but also without leaving the root of her music. You can hear hints of swing to jazzy. Blue, but not blues.
The most upbeat song (there are almost none) “The Bad In Each Other”, a slightly duet song with strong percussion beats is, in my opinion, the strongest song in the album, followed by “A Commotion” a neurotic song with additional male vocal and an intense choir. “How Come You Never Go There” released as the first single, is almost static, almost depressing and i questioned the choosing of this as the first single, before i listened to the whole album. I understand the choosing now; it expresses the whole album package. Dark, blue, and mature.
After listening to the whole song, my first thought, and i tweeted it, “what happened to her? Has she gone through such heart breaking events? Has she got broken hearted? Why so depressing?” Like the lyrics in “Comfort Me” (when you comfort me, it doesn’t bring me comfort, actually) or in “How Come You Never Go There” (love is not “the light it was”) . So, what has happened? Well, whatever it was, it has brought her to Metals; her transformation. And as the concept; transformation, it doesn’t stop here. So, where is this transformation bring her music in the future? We can only wait. (but i wish it ain’t gonna be darker than this)
My favorite songs in the album:
The Bad In Each Other
A Commotion
Cicadas and Gulls
Graveyard
Comfort Me
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