Top Ten Albums of 2011 - #07
Feist's Metals
Editor's Note: This is the 4th in a quasi-weekly series of reviews marking my favorite ten albums of 2011. New reviews go up every weekend through the end of the year.
Feist has a weird effect on me. She's one of few artists who can give me shivers. I'm talking about the kind of shivers that suddenly make you realize you've been holding your breath. Not just a feather down your back, but a feather down your soul.
Her last album, the world-storming The Reminder, was a fairly sunny affair. There were a few light, atmospheric tracks scattered evenly across the track-listing, but it was upbeat and catchy on the whole. Metals offers much less in the way of catchy tunes. And, although this sounds like a criticism, I couldn't name more than two or three tracks on the whole album. This isn't because the album is unremarkable. It's actually the opposite - when you sit down to this album, you end up glued to the stereo for 45 minutes until the last seconds of...whatever-the-last-track-is-called fade away.
The flow is great - definitely an album as opposed to a simple collection of songs. Plus there's still enough variety within the entirety of the album to prevent all of the tracks from sounding the same. She dances lithely between love songs, heartbreak songs, sexy songs, and softly angry songs.
Fans seem to pick on this album as being too much of a downer. These are probably fans who wanted another single like "1234" to show up on an Apple commercial. Fans who have been listening to Leslie since 2005's Let It Die recognize that this is actually a "returning to my roots" kind of album.
It's also worth noting that this is the point in the Top Ten where the albums will be tagged with "inherent awesomeness," indicating that I think the album is one that is free of any disappointments and one that I can recommend for consumption to the general public. Last year, only the top 5 earned this distinction. This year, the top 7 are all pretty remarkable.
Album highlight: I had to look it up, but "A Commotion" is notable for the the shouted male chorus that is almost guaranteed to startle you out of your calm 'n' cool album reverie. "How Come You Never Go There" and "Anti-Pioneer" ooze sex.
Feist has a weird effect on me. She's one of few artists who can give me shivers. I'm talking about the kind of shivers that suddenly make you realize you've been holding your breath. Not just a feather down your back, but a feather down your soul.
Her last album, the world-storming The Reminder, was a fairly sunny affair. There were a few light, atmospheric tracks scattered evenly across the track-listing, but it was upbeat and catchy on the whole. Metals offers much less in the way of catchy tunes. And, although this sounds like a criticism, I couldn't name more than two or three tracks on the whole album. This isn't because the album is unremarkable. It's actually the opposite - when you sit down to this album, you end up glued to the stereo for 45 minutes until the last seconds of...whatever-the-last-track-is-called fade away.
The flow is great - definitely an album as opposed to a simple collection of songs. Plus there's still enough variety within the entirety of the album to prevent all of the tracks from sounding the same. She dances lithely between love songs, heartbreak songs, sexy songs, and softly angry songs.
Fans seem to pick on this album as being too much of a downer. These are probably fans who wanted another single like "1234" to show up on an Apple commercial. Fans who have been listening to Leslie since 2005's Let It Die recognize that this is actually a "returning to my roots" kind of album.
It's also worth noting that this is the point in the Top Ten where the albums will be tagged with "inherent awesomeness," indicating that I think the album is one that is free of any disappointments and one that I can recommend for consumption to the general public. Last year, only the top 5 earned this distinction. This year, the top 7 are all pretty remarkable.
Album highlight: I had to look it up, but "A Commotion" is notable for the the shouted male chorus that is almost guaranteed to startle you out of your calm 'n' cool album reverie. "How Come You Never Go There" and "Anti-Pioneer" ooze sex.
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