I'm sure you'll all agree that the list of songs I have compiled for this rate gives us a very exhaustive overview of Feist's solo discography. I mean it includes her very rare debut album for crying out loud! However, there is one official release of hers that I excluded from the rate.........at least partially. As a good number of Feist fans probably know, there was an album released in-between Let It Die and The Reminder. That album would, of course, be Feist's remix album Open Season which was released in 2006.
(Side note: This cover is very lovely.)
It might be known or billed as a remix album, but that title only delivers part of the story. While the album is dominated by reworkings of Feist's tracks, many of them are not what one would consider a "traditional" remix. Aside from that, as the cover indicates, there are a number of collaborations on the album, some of which are on new songs not found on Let It Die. Two of those songs would be Snow Lion and The Simple Story, which I cherry-picked from the album and threw into the Extras section of the rate. The other new song which really isn't a new song at all is Feist's cover of her good pal Peaches' song Lovertits which she recorded with long-term collaborator Chilly Gonzales. In fact, the pair's version of Lovertits first appeared on Chilly Gonzales' album Z, which was released in 2003. I ultimately decided to leave this cover off of the song list because I personally felt like it wasn't going to go over all that well. As you can see, she has plenty of other collaborations with Gonzales so I didn't feel like leaving Lovertits off was a big deal. Plus, there is Feist's collaboration with Peaches, I Mean Something, which I felt was a good representation of their working history so I decided to use that as the nod to Peaches on the song list instead.
The other unique track that I included in the rate was the "One Room One Hour" mix of Gatekeeper, which appears to be alternatively known as the "Full mix." I love the original version of Gatekeeper with it's stripped down, acoustic sound but I think this version of the track is also incredibly appealing. It takes the slightly melancholy and somber track and breathes a new life into it, transforming it into a cheerier, smooth, and groove-filled track with the help of some added instrumentation. Feist also appears to have re-recorded her vocals for this "remix" as she sounds more sprightly and bubbly on this version. Basically, I think both versions are great and I wanted other people to become aware of this wonderful reinterpretation of Let It Die's opening track. The final track that stands out among the many remixes found on Open Season would be the cover of Tout Doucement which appears to be completely unaltered from the version found on Let It Die.
Now onto the album itself. Given it's heavy use of Let It Die tracks, it should come as no surprise that Open Season balances a wide variety of sounds and does so very successfully. On paper it sounds like it shouldn't work as it's contents include acoustic deconstructions of previous tracks, dancier remixes of singles and album tracks, and atmospheric trip-hop reinterpretations of some of the same songs, etc... but Feist makes all these disparate musical styles fit into one cohesive sonic palette which is a testament to her deep understanding of music and her fearless approach to experimenting with her sound. I won't touch upon Snow Lion or The Simple Story in this write-up because they are already part of the rate and I need to save something for their elimination posts ddd. That said, let's take a closer look at the other tracks from Open Season that didn't make it into the rate.
The album opens with
Chilly Gonzales' solo piano cover of the slinky and seductive One Evening. It certainly is an odd way to open a remix album as the track features no vocals at all but Chilly's piano playing is very good and turns the song into something that wouldn't sound out of place in a cabaret setting. The next track,
Inside + Out (Apostle of Hustle unmix live at the BBC) is another stripped down reinterpretation, but this time of Feist's joyous Disco-indebted cover of the Bee Gees hit single. Gone are the funky bassline, bouncy percussion, and smooth brass sections and in their stead is a lone and slightly detuned guitar. Now, I definitely prefer the original version but what this deconstruction does very well is spotlight Feist's passionate and sweet vocals by contrasting them with some deep and jangly sounding guitar strumming. The next track is
Mushaboom (Mocky Mix) which was crafted by another one of Feist's long-time collaborators, Mocky. Unlike the previous two tracks, this one is not an acoustic re-imagining of the original. A lot of the structural elements of the original are still present, they just happen to be accompanied by some eerie strings, record skips, some beats, and some funk-infused bass. The track is also slower and less quirky than the original but I think this remix works quite well.
Following that new version of Mushaboom is the
Frisbee'd mix of Lonely Lonely. This is one of the biggest transformations found on Open Season as it takes Lonely Lonely, a track that starts off with a piano-tinged acoustic sound before swelling with emotion and instruments in the second half, and turns it into a hypnotic, chill, 90s trip-hop number with very little vocals. It honestly might be one of my favorites on the album. Immediately following that Lonely Lonely remix is perhaps the biggest transformation found on the album, the
k-os mix of Mushaboom. On this remix, the charismatic and lively instrumental of the original has been replaced by a beatbox-infused beat and fits a small, seemingly spontaneous rap feature into the track, as well. Further down on the album we find
Feist and Gonzales' cover of Lovertits. Peaches' original recording of the track is a fairly stripped back affair, featuring the singer delivering the lyrics with a calm then slightly fiery tone while a percussive-driven beat plays faintly in the background. Feist's version adds a lot more instrumentation to the track, such as some nice bass, off-kilter synths, and flourishes of piano, and turns it from a subdued dance-lite punk track into an experimental melting pot of different sonic components.
Next comes
The Postal Service mix of Mushaboom which sees the original track undergo another unexpected transformation. Under the hands of The Postal Service, Mushaboom becomes a much more electronic affair as Feist's and Ben Gibbard's vocals sit on a bed of whirly synths, a skipping yet rhythmic beat, and some faint guitar plucks. Then there is the
Do Right mix of Gatekeeper which takes the original song and infuses it with some dramatic strings, an almost hand clap-esque beat, peaceful guitar, and what sounds like tambourine. It kind of feels like they just stuck all these new elements onto the original rather than making a proper remix, honestly. Whereas the One Room One Hour mix felt like a nice and logical expansion of the original (hence why it was the one to make it into the rate), this one loses the spirit of the original song. It's a very pleasant listen, though. The
VV mix of One Evening (half of VV is Gonzales, by the way) takes the tune from the world of Disco and into an almost House-esque dance number with Feist's voice popping up every now and then to break up the instrumentally-driven remix.
The album follows one VV mix with another as up next is
When I Was A Young Girl (VV mix). This is another of the most drastic transformations on the album as this remix takes Feist's folksy Americana/Bluegrass meets cabaret/jazzclub poetry reading cover of the Nina Simone song and turns it into a scattery beat-infused, slightly distorted dance song. It honestly reminds me of Robyn's version of Cobrastyle ddddd. Someone mash them up together! The final track on the album is yet another VV mix, but this time of......you guessed it,
Mushaboom. Once again, the original song is taken into a dance direction but this time vocal effects are used on Feist's voice making it unrecognizable at times. Feist's voice is also used as part of the beat in the track and is accompanied by some buzzy synths. While it's certainly an interesting direction to take Mushaboom in.....it's not my favorite.
That concludes our exploration of Feist's lone remix album. Will she put another one out in the future?
For those of you who don't want to go through the whole album, I have included a few of my favorite cuts below.
