Feist: The Reminder

My wife and I were first exposed to Feist in 2004 through her two guest spots on the Kings of Convenience album Riot on an Empty Street. We had no idea who she was but we fell in love with her voice. A little research led us to Let it Die, which was at the time available only in Europe. Lucky for us—here’s something you can’t often say—we happened to be going to Europe that month. So we bought it in Paris.

Associating Feist with that trip to Paris, as well as with our final year in New York, makes for a certain sentimental attachment. But sentimentalism aside, Let it Die deserved all those spins. It has become one of those albums that has remained in steady rotation for years, not months or weeks.

My anticipation, you might imagine, has been pretty high for The Reminder. Particularly because Let it Die, in fact, was not a perfect album. “Inside and Out,” “Leisure Suite,” and especially “One Evening” veered too far into adult contemporary territory. These were the only songs in my collection I could describe as “silky.” But all indications from the press I’d read at the time was that Let it Die’s popularity was something of a fluke, that Feist did not really intend to “compose” a real record (hence so many covers). She promised the next album would be closer to her originals, closer to “the good songs.” As far as I was concerned there was a high chance for perfection the second time around.

So now The Reminder is upon us, and pretty much every review I’ve read seems to make that claim. The hyperbole is nearly unanimous—which brings me to an awkward position. I like this record. I wanted to like this record and I do like this record. Nearly song for song, The Reminder is better than Let it Die. The album will very likely remain in rotation for much of the year and will probably show up in my year-end top ten list.

Yet I can’t be hyperbolic. I have a nit, and I must pick.

I’ve read grumblings here and there that if The Reminder is flawed, it is because there are too many slow songs and not enough upbeat songs. That might be true—I wouldn’t object to one more track as joyful as “1234” or “I Feel it All”—but on the other hand there are no bad songs. I think a more precise criticism is to note how frequently The Reminder kills its own momentum. The album is sequenced really curiously, to its detriment.

The album kicks off with “So Sorry,” a mild, folky ballad similar in mood to Let it Die’s opener, “Gatekeeper.” It’s a nice song, but it’s also the most modest of the dozen tracks. Meanwhile “1234,” which both lyrically and musically seems like such an obvious opener, is buried in the last third of the album, long after its buoyancy can really save the record’s pacing.

“So Sorry” almost feels like a false start—oops, meant to begin with the upbeat twosome “I Feel it All” and “My Moon My Man.” Okay then! Now we’re cookin’! Except, we’re not. Much of the album is a weird collection of couples; the two peppy tracks are followed by a pair of morose songwriter’s songs—lots of verses, not a lot else—“The Park” and “The Water.” The songs are very similar, and they add up to about ten minutes of downtime that kills all the wonder of the previous songs. The energy comes back with “Sea Lion Woman” and “Past in Present,” yet this is a curious pair too: higher energy, yes, but it feels like Feist’s genre-skipping interlude—the first has the feel of an indie rock tent revival; the second is the sole country-influenced track. Halfway through The Reminder, none of the songs feel comfortable within the skin of the album. “1234” tries to turn things into a party, but it’s surrounded by so many downers that there’s really no hope of saving the momentum.

Yet every song is good! And that’s what makes this a strange album. Even though they chop the album off at the knees, both “The Water” and “The Park” are fantastic songs. Even though the pairing of “Sea Lion Woman” and “Past in Present” belies a certain self-consciousness, taken individually they’re both a lot of fun. And despite reaching a certain level of exhaustion and frustration two-thirds in, the final quartet of songs are some of Feist’s best.

It is the quality of each individual song that keeps me coming back to The Reminder. I was hoping that the logic of the album would reveal itself to me the more I listened to it, in the manner that Andrew Bird’s latest did. But countless listens in, I’m still frustrated. I've been hesitant to even post about this album because I know that this single irritation, on paper, seems to outweigh my pleasure, which isn't the case. If I were rating it on the Pitchfork scale I'd probably put this in the high 7s to mid-8s. I recommend all thirteen of the great songs on The Reminder, even if I can't really recommend The Reminder.

Comments

[Richard]

I still haven't heard this album yet. But I want to defend, again, "Inside and Out". First, I came to Let it Die by way of "Inside and Out". I'd downloaded the song because it was on, I think, Stylus' end-of-year singles list. Which is to say, having not heard of Feist at all, I thought of it as a pop single. After a few listens we fell in love with it (but, as you say with this post, sequencing can be everything; we listened to it on a mix alongside, like, Beyonce, Kelly Clarkson, Annie, Basement Jaxx, Britney Spears, etc, where it fits in very well). I disagree that it has an adult contemporary feel, but it does have a 70s pop sort of sheen (silkiness, I suppose, which I gather you don't like), but which, I think, is undercut effectively, by some of the other sounds in the song... It wasn't till later that I learned that it's a Bee Gees song, or that Feist comes out of indie rock and is associated with Broken Social Scene.

[pgwp]

And the battle rages on! In defense of that song, it is the best of the three I mentioned here. I've deselected "One Evening" and "Leisure Suite" altogether in my iTunes. And like I said over at your blog, seeing her do it live made me like the song more. I don't hate the song, it's just that there are about five others that I like more.

We'll have to continue the discussion once you've gotten the new album. Because right now I hate myself for loving "Brandy Alexander."

And speaking of "silky," I think the only other silky songs I have in my collection are from Sade's Lovers Rock. I love the album, but I guess putting Feist in the company of Sade doesn't really change my argument...

[Richard]

Ha, yeah.

My main point in posting the above comment was just to try to explain how the different way in which I came to the song, and different context in which I have predominantly listened to it (before finally getting Let it Die), has something to do with my different response to it. (Or, you know, maybe I simply like more than you do! Nah, that can't be right.)

[Jeremy]

You know what's funny? "One Evening" might actually be my favorite song on Let it Die. I love that song.

However, overall, I don't really love Let it Die the way you do, so, maybe my view of the entire record is just off base from yours.

[Richard]

Hey, you should check out Dusted's review of the new Feist record:

http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/3598

[pgwp]

thanks for that link. I don't agree entirely with what the author says but it's grist for a little conversation. I may do another post tomorrow or next week.

[Richard]

yeah, I don't agree with the author entirely, either, particularly the blanket assumption that the current, more professional, indie music is "better" than the earlier... and yet, he makes some valid points off of that questionable assumption, so go figure.