Today's Artist:
Feist
Every now and then an album comes along that I literally cannot stop listening to. When it happens, I'm reminded of the old days, back when I'd buy a CD or a cassette or even waaaay back when I'd buy an album on vinyl and listen to it over and over and over again until the cassette unraveled, the vinyl warped and scrathed, and the CD skipped at all the most inopportune times. Albums like those end up defining a time fo me, almost like roadsigns on the freeway of my life. They are markers. And from that moment on, all memories and recollections of that time will be accompanied by the soundtrack that one album provided.
It happened once with Kate Bush's The Hounds of Love. It happened once with Gomez' first album Bring It On, with Dinosaur Jr.'s Green Mind, and Tom Waits' Swordfishtrombone. I know those albums inside and out. I could sing all words, drum all beats, conduct orchestras to the sounds of those albums. They leave me lost in reverie for the times when I got lost in them.
There was Dallas in high school, Sydney when I was 20, San Diego in the early 1990's, and New York at the end of the same decade. Those albums were not on continuously when i was in those locations, but I go back to each city as soon as the first note sounds when I hit play today on the computer.
Today's artist has crafted an album which could very well sit amongst that small group: Feist. The album is her third, and it intoxicates me every time I hear it. From the pop and bop of the catchy first track I Feel It All, to the somber beauty and well-crafted song structure of The Water, to the improbably successful and unique cover of Nina Simone's Sea Lion Woman, the album is quite near perfect.
Every song from the album would make a perfect recommendation, but I feel I should put the country-tinged Past In Present up for consumption. It's not even close to being my favorite song on the album, but it is the shortest song on the album, which if it makes you feel cheated, then good. GO BUY THE ALBUM! Even if you don't think of it as highly as I do, which is quite likely, I promise you will be as likely to this to this album tonight as you will be ten years from now. It's a beautiful, timeless album.
And from now on, when I drive by the sign on my way down the road, I'll proudly stop and get out, posing for a touristy photo next to the sign that shows this mark on the road.