the reminder

I recently purchased the new Feist album, The Reminder, and finally got a chance to listen to it today. My iPod has been in need of a new battery (or possibly a more complicated operation) for the past few weeks, and since I've come to depend on it for all my listening needs, its incapacity has left me music-less and unhappy. Today I decided enough was enough and fished out the old discman so that I could listen to Feist on my way to my normal Friday night activities: McDonalds and tutoring.
I'm a pretty big fan of Feist -- loved Let it Die and thought Open Season was pretty cool -- and I've got to say that her new album doesn't disappoint. It has the same whimsical/eclectic feel of Let it Die, but is possibly even cooler because it's all original stuff this time (i.e. no covers!). Not that I didn't like the covers, but I think that her music is strong enough to stand on its own, and songs that she wrote (i.e. "Mushaboom," "Gatekeeper" and "Let it Die") are probably my favorites from that album.
Yes, so I really like The Reminder so far, and am assuming, like with most new music, it will only continue to grow on me over time. Feist experiments with a wider variety of instruments in this album, especially strings, which is cool, and does more with back-up vocals and choirs too. She even stretches the boundaries of her own voice -- coming close to really wailing in a couple songs -- which brings some contrast to her usual mellow sound. And, like I said before, I think she's a very talented song-writer. She's able to strike a balance between fun and thoughtful and bittersweet, which I think is pretty unique. Some of her songs are incredibly moving, especially "The Park" and "Intuition"... I found myself sitting on the bus, listening, and close to tears.
If you've heard Feist before and like her, I recommend this album. If you've never heard of her, I recommend this album along with her other two. I've never posted anything even closely resembling a music review before (not that this really is one...), so the fact that I'm taking the time to write something about this CD speaks for itself. :)
On a side note, I like the art in the CD sleeve/case/whatever this type of packaging is called. The polaroids are neat.
Check out The Reminder website (with videos and segments of the songs): www.listentofeist.com