A Thousand Miles Behind

I’ve read somewhere that Feist’s music is a rough man’s sensitive music. Apparently, it was used in one of the Transformers movies. I, for one, don’t subscribe to that thought. You don’t have to be a rough man (or person, for that matter) to listen to her records. 

Metals is Leslie Feist’s follow-up to her breakthrough record, The Reminder, which literally broke the back of mainstream music, when her single, 1234 was used as the soundtrack of Apple’s iPod Nano campaign back in 2007. Yes, she even appeared on Sesame Street, teaching children how to count. The song was nominated for Record of the Year and the album, Pop Album of the Year on the Grammy’s. The Reminder landed on basically every publication’s top albums list - The New York Times, Rolling Stones, Time, to name a few. Not bad for an indie artist right? 

So where does one go from there? Will an artist try to duplicate a feat like that by selling out? Because frankly, if anyone could make a killer tune, it’s Feist. No debate. Grey’s Anatomy and 500 Days of Summer basically raped her discography… Seriously, I think there was a dilemma in creating this album because she could easily capitalize on a formula that works. 

I’m very happy she didn’t. Metals is the Anti-Reminder. It has none of the folksy-radio-friendly sound that pushed Feist into the spotlight. Like a true artist, she moved on. Now, she delivers her most perplexing, challenging and emotional set yet. Oh man, did she make me happy-slash-emo with this record. It’s just like nothing you’ve heard in your entire life. You have to have your heart checked if this record doesn’t move you. Or transport you to a far away place. It’s not Sarah McLachlan sad though. Metals is deep, emotional, spiritual, elemental… God, I’m lost for words describing this record. I won’t be tackling each individual track of the album because that would be an insult to it. Metals is a journey and an experience that I invite everyone who likes good music to take. It’s rewarding. I’m very sure you will be taking that journey over and over again.

I will just put it out there: when everyone is rooting for ADELE, Feist’s Metals is my dark horse for Album of the Year.