Whenever a hotly-anticipated record leaks, you guys are great about emailing us to let us know about it and give us your thoughts. Of course all of us need more than a listen and a day to form solid opinions, but who can wait the three months from leak to release to talk about it? And when we’re not listening to music, we’re thinking of clever column titles … so, this is Premature Evaluation. Has a better ring to it than Pre-Release Watercooler right? But it’s still the same idea: We’ll show you our first impressions if you’ll show us yours.
The leak that’s been flooding our inbox most is Feist’s third solo full-length The Reminder, and she’s heart wide-open right from the start. Leslie’s laments for her selfish ways colors the cozy jazz of album opener “So Sorry,” and she follows that by realizing that “I will be the one to break my heart,” on the superb, countrified shuffle of “I Feel It All.” The sexy lockstep pulse of “My Moon My Man” is track 3, and already we’re in love.
Standouts from there? We’re gonna go with “all of ‘em.” There’s more rootsy rollicking (“Past In Present”), a sweet handclaps-and-vocals breakdown (“Sea Lion Woman”), and plenty of sparsely arranged showcases for Feist’s versatile vox (“Honey Honey,” “The Water,” “Intuition”). Well worth repeated listens, your bandwith, and your dollars.
The Reminder is out 5/1 on Cherry Tree.
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excellent album from start to finish.
her voice is even better this time around. i don’t know how that is even possible.
if we don’t spend dollars where i live will you not patronise me into spending them?
i like this site a lot, but if you want to write copy and make ad revenue based on internet leaks, it seems a bit rich to assume a moral highground and instruct your readers in the ethics of the production/leak/release cycle…
oh shut up, skyman; it was simply a friendly suggestion. just buy the cute girl’s new record for christ’s sake.
ok
but i definately had a good point
this album’s good but i don’t think it lives up to “let it die.” now that record was awesome~
its definitely not gonna surpass “let it die” for me, but its still really great. one of my favorite 2007 albums thusfar.
Brill album.
i loved “let it die” so i was really worried before i heard this album but it’s pretty great. my personal favorites are “my moon my man” and “limit to your love.” definitely worth your money and i will be buying it when it’s officially released
so you give the album an 86?
That picture…
Oh, brilliant album.
I’ve been listening to it non-stop for a little under a week.
It’s hard to say it… buuut… I really just think its better than Let It Die.
Like someone said above, I don’t even know how it’s possible, but her voice sounds even better than on Let It Die. It’s actually something to behold, this record. Incredible. I think the charm, for me, is that a lot of it sounds a lot closer to what her live show sounds like. And i really love the way they recorded her vocals.
This woman is a powerhouse. I can’t speak highly enough about her.
This is the best album I’ve heard all year. Better than Let It Die (and I love that one too). I love the more upbeat stuff “Past In Present” especially, but “Brandy Alexander” is great as well. The only track I skip every time is “The Water.”
Listen Feist honey, go find Emily Haines and get back to Broken Social Scene and record a new album. Now. Just saying.
where can i dload the album? please help!
her voice sounds more like it does on BSS albums than on Let it Die
Especially with that one filtered effect on the beginning of “Past In Present”
Maybe that’s why it sounds “better”
RIP pre-release watercooler.
this album is okay, boring at times but competent.
It took a while to really grow on me. Also that 86 is just part of the graphic! We’ll leave the numeric scores to the smart kids at P4k.
Why are the female members of Broken Social Scene so unbelievably attractive?
who is that singing with her on ‘how the heart behaves’?? Excellent album.
it’s excellent! better than let it die.
prison mike,
the guy singing with her on how the heart behaves is one of the guys from Kings of Convenience.
they did a few songs together on one of their records a while back. listen to The Buildup. its really good.
The first time I listened to the album, I only found a few standout tracks, but after listening to it more (I think I’m over 10 plays this week), I absolutely love the whole album, and every song has its merits. It’s quite different from Let It Die, and I think it’s even more consistent – having so many covers on the last album held it down a little, whereas this one is almost all original material, most of which feels looser and brighter. I also haven’t heard any clear-cut favourites – everyone seems to like something different. My favourite’s “1 2 3 4″, followed closely by…everything else.
Definitely will buy it, and I’m really looking forward to her live show here in May.
She debuted the album last night in its entirity at a secret concert in Toronto I was lucky enough to attend. I enjoyed the leak and thought her live performace of the material was fantastic. I’m looking forward to seeing her again at Massey Hall in Toronto in May when she’s taken the songs around the block a few times.
my favourite is definitely ‘I Feel It All,’ and I’m really finding myself liking the more upbeat tracks… ‘Sea Lion Woman,’ ‘One Two Three Four,’ ‘Past in Present.’
But really, all the songs are amazing, and the slower, sadder ones are just beautiful. I love ‘The Park.’
MChris,
Where was the secret show in Toronto?
btw my fave’s as of about 4 listens to the whole album are the park, how my heart behaves, and brandy alexander…… the water is the only one on the entire album that doesn’t standout as special however.
give it time, child.
AMAZING.
Brandy Alexander is my new favourite song
Tanner,
Feist played her secret concert at the Music Gallery.
On another note, I saw the Pipettes at the Rivoli last night. They’re a riot — the whole room was dancing. A must see.
Anybody else hear the Titantic song in So Sorry?
Bright Eyes album sampler!!
To listen 7 tracks (1minute/each) all you guys have to do is:
go to e-maggazine:
http://www.visions-weekly.de/epaper/
click on ‘inhalt’ (=table of contents)
then ‘bright eyes’
go to the end of the article and click the speaker icon
i personally think this album is better than let it die, mainly because her new material is original. let it die was wonderful, it just had a few too many covers, but now i feel like i’m finally getting a sense of who leslie feist is as a songwriter. at first i was a little disappointed to see that she had really stripped intuition down from its original unreleased version, but now its another alternate favorite of mine and i will listen to this album nonstop for months.
I like the album has a sense of place, not only in it’s entirity, but from song to song. For instance, during her secret concert on Friday in Toronto, when she finsished play the assertive My Moon, My Man, she explained that the character in her song was fleeing into the isolation of a bird sanctuary. She asked us all to whistle and chirp like birds — which we did — as she sang The Park. Perhaps it was just a concert conceit, but it worked for me. We were in a place, physically and emotionally.
mchris, i am probably only ever going to think of that when i hear that song now, and that’s a pretty good visual/story.
i like this album, it’s got the immediately catchy songs and the nice slowburners. go feist.
Goddamnit I wish I knew about that show in Toronto. The Music Gallery is such an intimate venue.
About that bird chirping/whistling, she asked the crowd to do something similar to that the first time I saw her a couple years ago. It really created a strange atmosphere within the crowd, but I loved it. She also tossed a flower at me that night so all in all I love her and this new album.
This is a great record.
And I think I like it better than Let It Die.
You are welcome for this totally unique, original comment.
I wasn’t too into it at first, but the record has definitely grown on me.
It’s very addicting!
My self-righteous 2 cents: Let’s open our Christmas gifts on Christmas day (rather than, you know, Thanksgiving)
Fuck you, I’m Jewish!
touché, Jenny. Enjoy
I love the new album. Her voice is amazing and very powerful.
It’s not better or worse than Let It Die. To those who are disappointed give it a couple more spins. It will grow on you and take it’s own identity.
What a great time for music again! Feist, National, Wilco, Spoon, Andrew Bird all with new albums. Life is good!