Feist first came to international attention when her pop ballad 1234 was featured on an Apple iPod commercial in 2007. Since then, the Canadian singer-songwriter has released two excellent albums including 2017’s ‘Pleasure’, a record of deft tones and spiritual fullness. Despite the six year break, ‘Multitudes’ picks up the story with finesse.
There have been profound life changes. Feist has adopted a daughter and lost a father. She has also relocated to Los Angeles and the record, in a roundabout way, feels like it contains traces of that transition. ‘Multitudes’ is full of dreamy pastures, somewhere between the orange grove and the High Sierra.
It takes simple themes and delves into them endlessly with ephemeral song titles like Forever Before and Become the Earth. It’s at once incredibly complex and devastatingly simple. It is impenetrable at times.
But, then again, Feist is too deep in the game to go for cookie cutter pop hits. This is legitimate folk-indie-art-pop, recalling Joni Mitchell on one track (Hiding Out In The Open) and Björk on another (In Lightning). And yes, there is probably a bit of Tori Amos in there too: Of Womankind uses immaculate vocal textures to build a real sense of presence and wonder.
Feist is a terrific musician but there is always a nagging doubt with her writing that in the wrong setting, this is actually quite annoying stuff. On paper this should not impugn the listening experience—would you listen to the Sex Pistols in a church, or Yes at a school disco? No, and albums need to be understood on their own terms.
And yet there is still an underlying sense that this is music specifically for people staring longingly out of the window of a devastatingly posh house, or foraging for blackberries in an elegant woodland glade…which they also happen to own. None of this should matter, and yet it sometimes, inescapably, does. 'Multitudes' comes highly recommended for those settings.
Feist Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Tue May 02 2023 - MADISON Wisconsin - Sylvee (USA)
Wed May 03 2023 - MINNEAPOLIS Minnesota - First Avenue Minneapolis (USA)
Fri May 05 2023 - CHICAGO Illinois - Radius Chicago/Cermak Hall (USA)
Sat May 06 2023 - ST LOUIS Missouri - Pageant (USA)
Sun May 07 2023 - NASHVILLE Tennessee - Brooklyn Bowl Nashville (USA)
Tue May 09 2023 - ATLANTA Georgia - Coca-Cola Roxy (USA)
Wed May 10 2023 - RALEIGH North Carolina - Ritz (USA)
Fri May 12 2023 - WASHINGTON District Of Columbia - 9:30 Club (USA)
Sat May 13 2023 - BROOKLYN New York - Brooklyn Steel (USA)
Sun May 14 2023 - BROOKLYN New York - Brooklyn Steel (USA)
Mon May 15 2023 - PHILADELPHIA Pennsylvania - Fillmore Philadelphia (USA)
Wed May 17 2023 - BOSTON Massachusetts - MGM Music Hall at Fenway (USA)
Thu May 18 2023 - TORONTO Ontario - History (Canada)
Fri May 19 2023 - MONTREAL Quebec - MTELUS (Canada)
Tue July 11 2023 - HALIFAX Nova Scotia - Halifax Jazz Festival (Canada)
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