Feist - Metals

(Polydor)

This evidence seems to suggest Canadian siren Leslie Feist has foregone trying to recreate the breathy anthemics of 2007’s The Reminder – and the Apple-advertising ‘1234’ in particular – in favour of a more mature and mellow-textured style. It’s not such a bold move when her songwriting is as striking as this. The Opening ‘The Bad in Each Other’ swoops in on heartbreaking sentiments, pondering ‘when a good man and a good woman / can’t find the good in each other’, and these raw-hearted country-rock sentiments are extended into the Neil Young-style steel guitar twang of ‘How Come You Never Go There?’ and beyond. It’s a record which wears a certain sadness at its heart, from the dark and insistent sexuality of ‘A Commotion’ to the Carpenters-echoing ring of ‘Bittersweet Melodies’, but it’s surely also one which hoists Feist’s reputation ever-closer to those of Baez, Mitchell and Smith.