We claim Chan Marshall/Cat Power as a Patron Saint and each of us has our favorite songs but one thing we both agree on is the sonic beauty that is Jukebox. Cat Power has taken a page out of Neko Case's playbook and bathed her voice in more reverb than previously but unlike Neko the reverb doesn't really drown Chan's voice instead the harmonies are precious and her previous unmelodic wailing has turned into something so goregously heart-rending I'm left breathless. The melody isn't exactly uplifiting but she doesn't wallow in pain or drown in defeat as she has (to great success I think) in the past, rather she has a way of blending her trademark Cat Power melancholia with opulent harmonies and a languid southern pace. The whole effect just makes me swoon and sigh at the beauty of the way she merges so many oppositions. A great example of the way she can blend such polar opposites into a sumptuous stew is her cover of "New York, New York" which kicks off Jukebox. Cat Power delivers such a novel take on the "city that never sleeps" but always rushes to get nowhere fast (just my experience) that the she throws in a Dixie twang and a definitely unrushed down home pace. Like "New York, New York" Chan manages to make every song her own--she is a top notch song stylist like Emmylou Harris at her best. There is something ineffable about the way she's elevated her singing and the instrumental elements that makes me listen over and over and over....I'll admit that my favorite Cat Power release is "You are Free" and the single "The Greatest/Hate" but this comes close to becoming my favorite but not quite yet. Another hallmark is her cover of "Metal Heart"--so delicate in a way, yet bold in composition and where she was tentative on MoonPix she is assured and in control on Jukebox. Just had to share how obsessed I was with this release...maybe this should have been categorized under "I should be asleep now"...and I'm gonna slip off to bed and listen to Jukebox and hope the Mr. Sandman comes my way. Nighty Nite....
right! this happens occasionally when an artist stays with a song and manages to actually travel with it to another place. there's a part of me that takes the minor misfortunes of my life (minor because i really think i have it good and am very lucky) as an excuse to look out at the stars and decide that the world is too scary a place to put much effort in. when i first heard metal heart on moon pix i was riding on a commuter train at about 9:30 on a very dark night and somehow the unsure vocals of chan mixed with the lyric made me attach myself to the song in a possibly unhealthy way. (i've been known to use sadzoo as a screen name here and there.) now it seems to mean something else and yet the lyrics never changed (except for the unexplained removal of "hold them up to a light")... it's always been a song of chastisement of those who can't let go and be themselves because that's the easier way out. it is for me. but how selfish to believe in the meaning of all the bad dreaming. the difference between then and now is that then chan seemed to be all about self-doubt and now she's sort of like a self-doubt survivor. that recording is so solid. but yes, i love the entire album.
Posted by: anthony | February 20, 2008 at 10:09 PM