The Feist Discography Rate: Same Trailer, Different Management.

Oleander

Oleander

Not to sway votes or anything but if y'all tank this absolute treasure of a song I will be very offended.



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Oleander

Oleander

tobyboat said:
I've finally had a day off with no plans to revisit everything & get rating. Scores incoming @Oleander (I 100% could've score 4 songs 11 though. What a discography).
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Awesome!

I feel you, her discography is immaculate. It's going to hurt having to cut the vast majority of songs but it has to be done. I still need to figure out an 11 ddd.

Oh, and let me make an announcement for everyone, the next Tastemaker Corner will be coming later today if all goes according to plan. It will spotlight another live performance of Feist's that I love.
 
Oleander

Oleander

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After what feels like an extended break from this segment thanks to how close together the first few posts were, it’s time once again for The Tastemaker Corner. As I promised earlier, today’s spotlight sees us return to the world of Feist’s live performances for what might be Feist’s most simple and tender live performance. That would be the live cover/rendition of “Look At What The Light Did Now” that Feist performed with the song’s original artist, Little Wings aka Kyle Field. For those of you who haven’t made it that far in the song list for the rate yet, this live performance is one of the “tracks” you have to score. Why did I decide to make you rate a live performance instead of a studio version? You’ll find out a bit later on in this write-up. Now, before I get into the song and performance, however, let’s take a look at the history of the song.

As I’ve stated multiple times already, The Reminder era was absolutely massive and because of the era’s success, a lot of doors and new opportunities were opened for Feist. The era was so all-consuming and important that Feist decided to create a documentary about the creative process of making The Reminder. The name of that documentary just so happens to be Look At What The Light Did Now. It was directed by Canadian film director Anthony Seck and was shot on Super 8 mm film. Here’s a little clip from it. The documentary screened at a number of international fall festivals, including the 2010 Raindance Film Festival in London, CPH:DOX in Copenhagen, and the Pop Montreal music festival in Quebec. The film was released on DVD in December 2010, and a limited series of screenings were conducted including a Toronto screening at the Royal Ontario Museum, which featured a post-film interview of Feist by George Stroumboulopoulos. That interview is not available so please enjoy this other interview Feist did with George during The Reminder era.



The film focuses on the recording of The Reminder as well as the development of the tour through puppetry and projection. The film includes interviews with band member Afie Jurvanen; producer Chilly Gonzales (whose name you might have noticed appears frequently throughout the list of songs we’re rating; Broken Social Scene bandmates Kevin Drew and Andrew Whiteman; and video director Patrick Daughters. Bonus materials on the DVD include "This One Jam", an early performance of Feist with Gonzales at Trash Club;the music videos from The Reminder; live performances from the Reminder tour; and two short films: "The Water" starring Feist and "Departures" starring Kevin Drew and based on an idea by Feist. A CD is also included that contains the documentary soundtrack (tracks from The Reminder re-interpreted and performed by Gonzales), live performances by Feist, as well as two versions of the title track, "Look at What the Light Did Now", one of which was recorded as a duet with the song's writer, American musician Kyle Field. As practically all the songs featured on the CD are live performances of Reminder tracks, I only decided to include the three “original” songs in the rate, those being “Look At What The Light Did Now,” Feist’s cover of “Strangers” by The Kinks and her cover of “Where Can I Go Without You?” by Peggy Lee.

As with Feist’s main musical output, the documentary received great reviews. Music site Drowned in Sound gave the release 8/10, stating that it is "absolutely worth your time and attention," while at AllMusic, reviewer Andrew Leahey gave the release 3.5/5, commenting: "Feist sounds great throughout, with a quirky alto voice that, although imperfect, only seems to break at the right moments." Meanwhile, film site Indiewire gave the film a B+ rating, stating that it was not a typical rock documentary. Reviewer Kimber Myers said it "sets itself apart with an aesthetic that veers between art film and hipster craft fair, a tone that perfectly matches Feist’s own music, itself a mixture of polished and smartly produced tracks and earthy, quirky additions". It also won the 'DVD of the Year' prize at the 2012 Juno Awards in Canada, and was nominated for the Sound & Vision Award at CPH:DOX in Denmark.

Now, back to the CD/DVD’s title track after that long detour. The reason I’m having y’all rate a live rendition of the duet is due to the studio version not being available anywhere unless you buy a physical copy of the CD/DVD which I wasn’t going to do ddd. I did end up buying Woe Be and Born To Bond in order to make them available but those are individual tracks so it was a lot more logical of a choice. I know what you’re thinking…...why even include the duet in the rate then? The answer is that I find the duet to be very beautiful and charming in its live iteration. I almost didn’t include it but at the end of the day, I decided to keep it because it highlights an important aspect of Feist’s career. Feist is a phenomenal live performer and I really wanted to highlight that throughout this rate and there is no better way to do that than include live performances like this one in the rate. This performance also plays to Feist’s folk sensibilities and her carefree, naturalistic, and uncomplicated aesthetic. I mean the two of them are literally performing in some little gorge somewhere for crying out loud! It doesn’t get much more Leslie Feist than this live performance.

With only the peaceful strumming of guitars to accompany them, Feist and Little Wings turn a familiar acoustic setting into a thing of beauty. It’s actually very similar to the Little Wings’ original version of the song which you can listen to here.



Their voices compliment each other so well, with both displaying a bright, sweet, and delicate vocal tone. At the same time, Little Wings’ voice does have that slightly worn and wise aspect to it that other Folk singers have which provides a nice contrast to Feist’s airy, effortless, and almost inquisitive delivery. The contrast in their voices is further emphasized by the moments where one of them sings more softly than the other and we get to hear the unique facets of each voice more clearly. When the two voices join together on the same level of projection and presence, it’s very beautiful. I’ll be honest and say that I don’t necessarily expect this song to make it far in the rate but it’s enough to know that other people get to listen to it.

Here’s the duet for you to listen to as well as the trailer for the DVD and the performance of Honey Honey from the DVD.





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