Simple ‘Pleasure’
Follow Feist’s new direction in these 5 tracks
Less is more on Leslie Feist’s stunning and spare new album Pleasure, one of the best works of Feist’s career — and a marked departure for fans who best know the Canadian singer/songwriter for quirky indie pop hits like 1234.
After following her pop-oriented 2007 breakthrough album The
Reminder with the cinematic arrangements of 2011’s Metals, Feist strips away all the frills of her previous pair of releases, leaving just guitars, piano keys, simple melodies and tales of heartbreak.
Thankfully, Feist’s distinctive warbling voice sounds sharper, and more poignant, than ever, paired with just enough reverb to melt into its surroundings as she sings tales of loneliness ( I Wish I
Didn’t Miss You) and stubborn resilience ( I’m Not Running Away).
Even on its lighter moments — as in Any Party, with a chorus of “You know I would leave any party for you” — the album aches with longing.
Yet even when she’s singing about her loneliness, Feist surrounds herself with choruses featuring layers of her own voice, rising to crescendos on the album’s most stirring moments. Ready to listen? These are Pleasure’s five standout tracks. Pleasure: The album’s lead single doesn’t feature much more than Feist’s echoing harmonies over a simple bass line, gradually building to a dissonant crescendo. Fragile and melodic, Pleasure is the first of many tracks that makes listeners thankful for Feist’s new sonic direction. I Wish I Didn’t Miss You: Similarly barebones, I Wish I Didn’t Miss You features a chorus of warped vocals rippling across its surface, a yearning touch that underscores the track’s story of stubborn heartbreak. Any Party: Compared with the more downbeat stories that dominate the rest of the album, Any Party is a charming escape. Feist sings the praises of a partner whose arms she’d gladly choose over the rest of her social functions, welcoming a gang of guest vocalists on the track for a raucous singalong.
Century: Joining Feist to meditate on the passage of time is Jarvis Cocker, who contributes an ominous spoken-word outro to one of the album’s darker tracks.
Young Up: Pleasure didn’t feature many of the whimsical flourishes heard on Feist’s past releases. But the quirky instrumentation and offbeat harmonies return on Young Up, the album’s final track, which is loaned a hint of nostalgia from the song ’s vintage organs.