Metals

Feist | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 4, 2011)
• Original Release Date: 2011
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Cherrytree / Interscope
• ASIN: B005F6NA56
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,498 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. The Bad In Each Other

2. Graveyard

3. Caught A Long Wind

4. How Come You Never Go There

5. A Commotion

6. The Circle Married The Line

7. Bittersweet Melodies

8. Anti-Pioneer

9. Undiscovered First

10. Cicadas And Gulls

11. Comfort Me

12. Get It Wrong, Get It Right

Editorial Reviews

2011 album from the Canadian singer/songwriter. Metals is the follow-up to her 2007 breakout The Reminder. Recorded in Big Sur, California, Feist co-produced the album with longtime collaborators Chilly Gonzales and Mocky, as well as newcomer Valgeir Sigurdsson (Bjork, Bonnie "Prince" Billy) Metals will mark Feist's celebratory return to the world stage. Like The Reminder, this album is astoundingly intimate, yet often exuberant; rife with transcendent and unforgettable pop gems. The album is being teased with 12 unique vignettes, each hinting at a different element of this stunningly beautiful, sublime record.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 44 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Moody, sharp and aching October 4, 2011

By Storylover TOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Audio CD

Feist's allure for me has always been those vocals--sharp enough to cut your heart like shaved glass, yet oozing into the corners like clotted cream, floating up and up, shimmering and warm, despairing and lovely. Comparisons with Tori Amos are not unreasonable when it comes to her delivery, but her whispers of desperation are hers alone. Music on this album hovers around the intersection of indie and alt country, a good place for her, and one which she inhabits beautifully. "Little bird/have you got a key?/ Unlock the Lock inside of me..." she sings in the opening of the beautiful "Caught in a Long Wind", and shivers creep up and down my spine, I almost feel ashamed to listen to something so personal. How can she share like this? Something so beautiful? She seems intent on wrapping her listener in layers of her soul, but is it real? Is it an illusion? I'm not sure. But I'm willing to keep exploring. Sometimes, the simplest lyrics become the most profound: in "Bittersweet Melodies", she offers slips of memories, evocations of those relationships that we all have had and regret--"I remember us/'fore we turn to dusk/ Just when these feelings were all about/ When we still could trust/in our hearts". Sometimes, for an instant, I catch a remembrance of the pure beauty of Elizabeth Fraser in her voice, and my heart catches. This is such a mature, such a wonderful album. I love it.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Feist's Mettle November 12, 2011

By Oi

Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase

This album was not what I expected. And I can understand the negative reviews of disappointed fans, because I was confused when I first heard the album. I was expecting songs in the tradition of mushaboom--sultry, quirky, fun, and summery, but I was surprised by this selection of cool, edgy, poetic and intellectual songs. I was so confused that I thought I didn't like the album. It was only on the second listening, after getting over my initial shock and confusion that I really gave it a good listening to. In fact, it is a wonderful album and it has grown on me since. I love it more with every subsequent listening. There's always so much more to discover. Metal features twelve unique songs that showcases a contemplative and poetic charm. The lyrics are all beautiful, and my favorite of the selection is "Comfort Me", the second last track that features the clever simplicity of a Japanese haiku. The lyrics of the song suggests a reference to (if not an inspiration from) Haiku. The tune like its lyrics is elegantly simple. Like all the wonderful haikus I love, "Comfort Me" is focused, deceptively simple, clever and carries a tongue in cheek charm.

I can't agree more that this is a more mature and contemplative album. It was definitely not what I was hoping for, but I think fans of Feist would not be too disappointed with the change. The fun, quirky and warmth of the Feist songs we love have simply taken a turn for the contemplative, idiosyncratic, and adopted a cooler edge. I read in an interview that Feist had previously contemplated naming the album Mettle but settled on Metals instead. Both are great titles I think, and this album with its new and surprising sound certainly showcased Feist's mettle. It seems to suggests that Feist's music is taking a new direction, but it is one that I will follow. This album has brought me to strange unexpected places, but overall, I say the journey has been really rewarding.

20 of 25 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Feist - Heavy Metals October 4, 2011

By Red on Black TOP 500 REVIEWER

Format:Audio CD

4.5 stars

Having recorded a song quite as ubiquitous as "1234" which when attached to an advert for the I Pod Nano helped shift the little sound units by the millions, tends to be the defining "fact" of Leslie Feist's career thus far. Alternatively very clever people who read Amazon reviews know that this joyous little pop song is the proverbial tip of a very large iceberg when it comes to Feist's talent and what we have with her new album is the productions of some very powerful song craft that leads to the production of very precious metals.

Straddling the world between her indie roots in the great Canadian band Broken Social Scene and appearances on Sesame Street are all taken in her stride by Leslie Feist although on this new album there is too much for the Muppets to sing about. Indeed "Metals" is a darker beast than its predecessor (which also had its moments) but ultimately an altogether stronger and more mature album. It opens with the pounding "The bad in each other" a great folky song which sees Feist almost mixing the Fleet Foxes with Kate Bush to great effect. The next two songs are amongst the most haunting on the album and show her emerging as a major songwriting talent. First up is "Graveyard' with a tender vocal and an almost Tom Waits style backdrop full of horns and an extended exhortation to the inhabitants of the burial ground to "Bring them all back to life". The third song "Caught a long wind" has that sort of icy beauty that Sufjan Stevens has made such a trademark and is a stunning highlight. Alternatively "How come you never go there" is a light soulful blues ballad which stands in sharp contrast. The pivot of the album is "A Commotion" a thumping anthem of indie pop full of deep male chants, violins and thumping drums. This one may split the jury but it shows an artist prepared to take risks which largely work. More gentle are the lovely proceeding tracks "The circle married the line" and the sumptuous "Bittersweet Melodies". Your reviewers favourite track thus far is the five minute plus haunting slow jazz of "Anti Pioneer" a burning love song which not be out of place on a Cat Power album.

Throughout the album Feist sings brilliantly no more so on the hushed alt country acoustics of "Cicada's and gulls" or on the ethereal closer "Get it get it wrong". Undoubtedly some may bemoan the lack of catchy radio friendly accessibility which previous songs like "I feel it all" and "My moon my man" had in spades. Indeed the Amazon download appears to omit two other tracks that are widely available namely the gothic blues of "Pine Moon" which Nick Cave should cover ASAP and the much more feisty soul of "Woe be" (answers on a postcard please?). Frankly while they are both great songs neither are hits waiting to trouble the charts. In the last analysis accepting that the vibe of "Metals" tends to locate it in more pensive corners which she explored on "The Reminders" Overall the feel of this album is autumnal and like the wonderful season that it captures Feist infuses "Metals" with the feeling that the possibilities of summer are gone, and the chill of winter is on the horizon. You would be foolish not to let this album soundtrack the forthcoming months.