I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: FEIST-The Reminder (2007).

I came to Feist fairly late in the game.  This disc had been out for well over a year before I heard it.  And, like with her first disc, I’m really confused by the “indie” label that gets stamped on her.

There’s virtually nothing indie about this disc.  The music itself borders on Top 40 and pop R&B on most of the tracks.  The fact that she rescues it from being a boring pop album is a testament to her strong voice and good songwriting.  But that doesn’t stop the disc from being pretty far from indie.

And maybe she wasn’t trying to make an indie album, which is fine.  She traffics in all kinds of different styles on the disc, and I think the disc really takes off once the guitar comes in in the second half of “Sealion.”  The song, a cover of sorts of a Nina Simone standard is a little wishy washy, but when the guitar kicks in, it sounds like a rock song taking over (even if the guitar line is fairly simple, it stands out so much in this track).

She’s undeniably got a great voice.  I’m just not clear where she’ll wind up going on future discs: pop star or indie darling.  In the meantime, The Reminder works as an enjoyable disc for chilling out on a Sunday afternoon.

[READ: February 23, 2010] “That’ll Be Two Dollars and Fifty Cents Please”

I had recently read a piece by Myla Goldberg in the book State by State (to be posted about shortly). Right around when I was reading her state, Maryland, this story showed up in my mailbox.  So, I took it as serendipitous and decided to read it.

What I enjoyed about the story was the way it was set up: the narrator presumes that you know the story about the mythical figure at the center of her story.  So she’s relating events about it as if she’s just filing in gaps in well known and familiar story: the Birthplace of Little Darling.

The narrator is the a young woman, a former model and former Jordan Dairy Girl (as seen on TV).  Her star has since faded, so she is making extra cash as an official vendor outside of the Birthplace (she sells ice creams in Little Darling’s likeness).

What makes the story work so well is that the story feels a little like an interview.  And the narrator never breaks character to fill in the story, nor does she say things that would sound weird in an interview.  You’ve read that problem before, in order to explicate a scene, the narrator steps outside of normal interviews parameters.

The explication of the Little Darling story is drawn out very slowly, almost teasingly, as we see glimpses of her in various locations before we learn exactly what she did to become famous.  It’s a strange and oddly original idea (even though it is based on a familiar concept).

The only flaw I found with the story is I’m not entirely sure that Little Darling would have made such a huge sensation.  I’m either too cynical or not cynical enough to believe that her story would have such an international impact. But this is fiction, right, and it’s not at all beyond believability.

It was a face-paced and intriguing story and I enjoyed puzzling out what was going on as much as I enjoyed seeing the inner workings of a minor celebrity.

“It’s a Treat!”