Soothing Hangover Music….

August 21, 2005

This morning I sat outside drinking water like I’d just discovered it - trying to take away the heavy mind that Johnny Black had left me with - I found solace in a fine feline called Feist, whose name is the best word to make Dutch people say and whose album is called Let it Die - I picked it up after catching a brief random review in the Jakarta Post t’other day.

This siren’s voice is phonic chocolate - she sounds like the girl every guy wants to sleep with - reading up it turns out she was in a Canadian indie band called Broken Social Scene and she appeared on ”the Build up” and ”Know how” from Kings of Convenience’s Riot on an empty street - here we get her breathless vocal front and centre - no trimmings - pure smooth and soothing - backed up by simple piano and acoustic guitar, with snapping fingers, a hint of synth and some handclaps.

I love it when you listen to music and every track plays as a soundtrack to images and stories you unconsciously conjure. For example When I was a young girl is the song to listen to as you lazily swing the girl of your dreams around with one hand and drink Tequila from the bottle with the other - Mushaboom is fine foot tapping tom-foolery that should one day accompany a Wes Anderson movie montage moment, there may be no better way to start your day than listening to this - The Gate Keepers got you stoned walking through wheat fields - Let it die has to be a last song in a smoke filled dimly lit Jazz club, blue spotlight on a siren at the end of the night - One Evenings got a Joni Mitchell 70’s funky thing going on, the aftermath to a lazy heist maybe - Lovers Spirit is getting drunk watching the rain knowing you’ve fucked up - Leisure Suite takes the sultry mantle from Michelle Pieffer sliding around on that piano in Fabulous Baker Boys..... it’s all good and furthermore I’ve not heard anything like it for a very long time.

There’s even cover of the Bee Gees’ ”Inside And Out” which she gives a seriously shuffling funky dance off styling to.

It took a little while to grow on me - guess the mood has to be right - and that mood came around swinging in a hammock with a hangover - this voice was all I needed to hear - took away the Johnny Walker Black Haze - replaced it with sonic fruits - stupendously scrumptious sonic fruits.