I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. I know a lot of people were sucked into the world of Feist by “1234,” but I actually didn’t get The Reminder until well after those commercials were relevant. The song that did it for me was “I Feel It All,” which I still maintain is her best song and a pretty great music video. Then I got into Broken Social Scene and realized I liked Feist even more. Alas, a new Feist album seemed to be ever looming on the horizon, never within reach. Well, Metals finally showed up this month and while it’s not as revolutionary as I might have hoped, it’s certainly not something to be missed.
Probably the most important thing you need to know about Metals is that you will never hear any song from it in an iPod commercial. Firstly, because they don’t make iPod commercials anymore and Apple doesn’t really double dip anyway. Secondly, because this album is entirely devoid of poppy hits-in-waiting. Metals is a soft album. So soft, if we didn’t have microphones, you’d probably have to be standing right in front of Feist just to hear her voice. And come on, we all know you’d be pretty embarrassed in that situation.
Thanks to iTunes, a lot of people are wondering if the album is a dying idea. Metals serves as a reminder for why the album is a great concept. If Feist had just come out with a single, no matter what track she chose, it would lose in comparison to “1234.” Instead, she got put out a whole bunch of songs, still lose in comparison to “1234” and keep me and people like me quite happy.
Favorite Tracks: “The Bad in Each Other,” “The Circle Married the Line,” “Bittersweet Melodies”