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Canadian singer-songwriter Leslie Feist (based in Toronto),
who had already recorded
Monarch (Not On Label, 1999) and toured with
her roommate Peaches,
transformed herself into a pop chanteuse
for Let It Die (2004), half covers and half originals, whose humble,
naive, singsong Mushaboom propelled her to stardom,
and
The Reminder (Cherry Tree, 2007), almost entirely co-written by her.
The third one marked a mature achievement as she propelled herself to the
forefront of the female singer-songwriters trying to bridge the
Joni Mitchell generation
and the Bjork generation.
Just like those two role models, Feist too placed the voice centerstage,
her voice making up for most of the appeal of their albums.
The jazzy
Let It Die (2004) turned her into a pop star, thanks in no small
measure to Canadian producer and keyboardist Jason Charles Beck
(Chilly Gonzales).
She wrote all the songs but one of The Reminder (2007).
The nonchalant country ballad 1 2 3 4
(co-written with Australian singer Sally Seltmann aka New Buffalo)
is the natural heir to Mushaboom, more so than
the pounding synthetic single My Moon My Man.
She also sang in Broken Social Scene.
Metals (2011) indulges in
torch ballads like the single How Come You Never Go There which are only
occasionally also catchy (Bittersweet Melodies and Graveyard) and
more often emotionally unstable
(the brooding, bluesy Anti-Pioneer, the
country lament The Bad In Each Other,
the evocative quasi-gospel The Undiscovered First).
Ranging from the stomping Comfort Me to the delicate
The Circle Married the Line, her music has abandoned the jazzy overtones
but picked up more variety and subtlety.
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(Translation by/ Tradotto da Rosa Borgonovi)
La cantautrice canadese Leslie Feist, che vive a
Toronto, e che aveva gi registrato Monarch
(autoproduzione, 1999) per poi fare un tour con la coinquilina Peaches, si
trasforma in una cantante pop per Let It
Die (2004), album di met cover e met pezzi propri, la cui umile, ingenua
cantilena Mushaboom la porta alla
popolarit. Il terzo album, The Reminder
(Cherry Tree, 2007) scritto principalmente da lei in collaborazione con altri
musicisti, segna una conquista matura, in quanto la porta in prima linea tra le
cantautrici femminili nellintento di collegare la generazione di Joni Mitchell
e quella di Bjork. Proprio come questi due modelli, anche Feist d alla voce un ruolo di primo piano, la quale compensa per la
maggior parte lappeal dei loro album che manca al suo.
Lalbum Let
It Die (2004), dal sapore jazz, trasforma Feist in una pop star, in gran
parte grazie al produttore canadese e tastierista Jason Charles Beck (Chilly
Gonzales).
In The
Reminder (2007) tutti I brani sono scritti da lei tranne uno. La disinvolta
ballad country 1 2 3 4 (scritta in
collaborazione con la cantante australiana Sally Seltmann, anche nota come New
Buffalo) lerede naturale di Mushaboom,
ancor pi di My Moon My Man, singolo
dai suoni sintetici e martellanti.
Feist canta anche nei Broken Social Scene.
Metals (2011) si concede ballate sentimentali come il
singolo How Come You Never Go There che
sono solo occasionalmente orecchiabili (Bittersweet
Melodies e Graveyard) e, pi
spesso, emotivamente instabili (la solenne e blueseggiante Anti-Pioneer, il lamento country The Bad in Each Other e levocativa, quasi gospel, The Undiscovered
First). Oscillando dalla incalzante Comfort
Me alla delicata The Circle Married the
Line, la sua musica abbandona le allusioni al jazz ma raccoglie pi variet
e delicatezza.
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