[情報] Cat Power 新作
At Long Last, Cat Power Returns With Originals
By Jonathan Cohen
It has been three years since Chan Marshall, the one-woman
mastermind behind Cat Power, released "The Covers Record,"
and closer to five since her last studio album of original
material, "Moon Pix." Although the beguiling artist admits
she spent some of the downtime relaxing in faraway locales,
she was always writing songs that she knew would someday end
up on a new album -- she just did not know when.
Part of the problem: Marshall, 31, accumulated around 40 new
tracks and nearly drove herself mad trying to figure out
which ones to release first. Even though the Feb. 18 release
of "You Are Free" (Matador) has come and gone, she is still
not fully confident with her choices. Asked what went into
the selection process, Marshall says with a laugh, "Tension.
Delirium. It was almost like creating three records."
Indeed, Marshall is a perfectionist of extreme proportions.
Instead of creating and then continually revising her
material, she prefers not to tinker with her songs at all
once they are captured in their infancy on a basic cassette
recorder. Marshall says this is directly responsible for her
notoriously hit-or-miss live performances. "For me, what
makes a song perfect is the way that it came out originally,"
she says. "If I can't get back to that source, I get
frustrated with myself, because I'm trying to recapture that
essence."
It took a change in her usual methods to nudge "You Are Free"
to its completion. Rather than banging out the album in a
concentrated block of time as she had done in the past,
Marshall recorded in dribs and drabs in Seattle, Washington,
D.C., and Los Angeles. It was all pursuant to the busy
schedule of engineer Adam Kasper, who was simultaneously
working on projects with Foo Fighters and Pearl Jam.
"He'd be working with them and then the next day I'd be in a
hotel room writing songs and getting away from the ones I was
there to work on," Marshall says, noting that the album's
first song ("I Don't Blame You") and last ("Evolution,"
featuring Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder on vocals) were created
this way.
The mix of these freshly written tracks and pre-existing
older material such as "Good Woman" and "He War" has resulted
in one of Marshall's most entrancing collections to date.
Sound-wise, "You Are Free" largely favors the spartan
instrumental setup utilized on "The Covers Record," as
several songs feature only Marshall's ghostly voice and piano
or guitar.
But, elsewhere, she rocks with newfound confidence on "Speak
for Me" and "Shaking Paper" (featuring Foo Fighters' Dave
Grohl on drums). Her idiosyncratic narratives are also on
full display throughout, particularly on "Names," a
voice-and-piano exorcism of frank childhood memories that was
captured on the first take.
"Adam had to run in and press record," Marshall says of the
latter song. "That's why I think it is easy to get mad at me.
I'm not conventional, unfortunately. But I am conventional!
I'm just impatient!"
For Matador head Chris Lombardi, "You Are Free" -- which
debuted at No. 1 on the Heatseekers chart-has already proved
to be worth the wait. "Her voice is heartbreaking," he says.
"I think it's her best album. It shows different sides of
her, from the rockin' tunes to some truly sad, beautiful
numbers."
Anyone interested in sampling the music can visit Marshall's
catpowermusic.com Web site, where the full album can be
streamed. A video for "He War" was recently shot by director
Brett Vapnek.
Marshall says she would like to clear out her vaults before
too long, but she is already looking ahead to a different
kind of life. "It'd be great to release another record a year
from now," she says. "Then I could take three years off and
do another 'Covers Record.' Then retire. Five-year-plan. At
35, I'd like to have a couple of twins -- a he and a she!"
--
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