You know when you wait for a record, and you wait, and you wait until your anticipation slowly ceases to exist. And then, when you least expect it, the records strikes like a storm. After a six year long hibernation, Canadian singer Leslie Feist finally comes back with another trick in her discography pocket. What can be observed after the initial listen is that this is not a release you come to appreciate right away since there are no instant hits as 1234 or I Feel It All were. The album is gradually growing on you and which each new play, it gest deeper under your skin.
Pleasure is introspective, intimate record where Feist sings about loneliness and being left. She is torn between questioning personal emotional boundaries and letting go. With substantially higher level of life experiences, she approaches these themes now in a more mature manner, and the lyrics are, as usual, ambiguous and opened for various interpretations.
Feist’s vocal is undeniable pleasure. Depening on whether It’s high or low, morose or whispery, sensitive or poweful, her voice commands emotions. Interpretations are persistantly delicate and warm, with vocal reaching its ultimate expression out of decision to maintain raw and unpolshed. The background noise also plays a significant role.
Lo-fi direction, with minimalistic instrumentals and stripped arrangements, was suggested by multi-instrumentlist and her long-term collaborator Dominick Mockey Salole. She has been working with him ever since Let It Die. Songs Baby Be Simple and I Wish I Didn’t Miss You are fragile and supported solely by a melacholia-leaking guitar. Nostalgic ballade A Man Is Not His Song starts quietly until it transforms into a vocal interplat between the choir and Feist’s angelic voice. It ends with the sample of High Road by metal legends Mastodon.
Title track and first promotional single incredibly resembles PJ Harvey, while the second single Century might be one of the best tracks on the album, particularly due to its spoken-word interruption by Jarvis Cocker. Any Party standsout as well and shows the singer’s ability to fly to the sky and back with her voice. She sounds very confident when she sings “You know I leavy any party for you. “
When we cross the line, it becomes obvious that the fifth album by Leslie Feist was worth waiting for.
