Cat Power "The Greatest" (Matador)
By Kyle Wagner
Friday. Feb 03, 12:16 AM
The power to hypnotize and consume.

With the release of Cat Power’s The Greatest, Chan Marshall has delivered an album that contains the promise of underlying honesty and truth of vision. The warmth of these 12 tracks, the analog fidelity, the strange optimism in a sea of despair fills whatever space you occupy with a cloud of vocal and instrumental smoke dead-set on working its way into your clothes and skin. It lingers and permeates as the characters of these worlds contemplate the past, present, and future in a way that challenges you to do the same. It’s an exercise in subtle beauty that succeeds on every level: musically, lyrically, vocally, and emotionally.

In the title track, Marshall delivers what is possibly the most sincere and empathetic song penned about a prizefighter since Simon And Garfunkel wrote “The Boxer” in 1968. It provides a glimpse into the thoughts of a man taking stock of his life and trying to assess his past and what could have been. We’re cast into his world of longing and questioning; a world accentuated by haunting background vocals (delivered by Marshall herself), strings, and the distant warble of an electric guitar. It’s undeniably beautiful and captures personal reassessment in a way that singer-songwriters work their entire lives to master.

The album has an underlying country feel due in large part to the Memphis session musicians who have their hands in almost every song. A few of the tracks bring to mind the Cowboy Junkies version of “Sweet Jane,” particularly “The Moon” which sounds like it was recorded late at night in a country bar after everyone has left but the empty bottles have not yet been cleared from the tables. There is a cascade of natural-sounding echo and reverb that infuses an immense amount of space into the song, and a guitar riff that sounds peripherally like a slow Hendrix bit or the intro to Pearl Jam’s “Yellow Ledbetter.” But the country vibe suits Marshall’s vocal style well and translates into songs that are organic, breathing, and come across as entirely genuine.

Not content to be shackled to the stylings of just one or two genres, Marshall also works in a bit of 1950s R&B/doo-wop flavor in “Lived in Bars,” and a bit of Hawaiian lap steel vibe on “Islands.” The accents are subtle, well integrated, and never come across as random or gimmicky. She even pulls off some gritty backwater blues in “Hate,” which bears a striking resemblance to Tom Waits’ “How’s it Gonna End” from Real Gone. Albums from emoting singer-songwriters can often become repetitive and tiring as you get into the last few tracks, but Marshall adds just the right amount of variety in all the right places to keep your ears from thinking that everything sounds and feels the same.

Critics may say that Marshall has gone too commercial with The Greatest, but if commercial music is ever going to be good again, it has to build from somewhere. This album is as good of a place as any to start.
www.catpowerthegreatest.com
www.matadorrecords.com

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Kyle Wagner

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