Pleasure
Feist
Interscope
Three-and-a-half stars
Feist's latest album has the same instant-earworm quality of her biggest hit, the bouncy 1234, from the 2007 album The Reminder, which was used to sell iPods in Apple ads and teach kids to count on Sesame Street.
However, Pleasure is a bolder and sadder affair. The Canadian singer's diverse influences – folk, indie rock, jazz, metal and more – remain discernible but the album has a pared-down feel. Many songs are built around her voice – which is quirky, ironic, delicate and arresting – paired with the sound of a guitar being plucked, strummed or whacked.
The effect is one of yearning on I Wish I Didn't Miss You, sensuous on Get Not High, Get Not Low, and achingly bluesy on I'm Not Running Away.
There is a sense of an artist keen to keep listeners off-balance. Any Party is an anti-party anthem ("You know I would leave any party for you") that builds to a rousing chorus, and Century is propulsively catchy until Pulp's Jarvis Cocker pops up to intone about time. Feist worked on the album with her longtime songwriting collaborator Dominic "Mocky" Salole, but Pleasure feels very much her own.
* Associated Press
