BY SAMANTHA MULLETT
Photo Credit: Pablo Caro
Dark and light, punk and blues, Liz Phair and Eddie Vedder – some things just don’t go together, but our featured artist, Cat Power, seems to weave a strong musical force with her transparently vulnerable lyrics. Chan Marshall, the singer-songwriter from Atlanta, got an early influence from her father’s musical career and became well-versed in the soul and classic rock realms. At the age of 20 she moved to New York City and began performing as Cat Power, shortly before her 1994 performance with Liz Phair that gained her both recognition and a record deal.
After a brief hiatus, Chan came back in 2006 releasing one of her most well-known records, The Greatest, which further honed her soulful style and featured musicians Eddie Vedder and Dave Grohl. This landed her in the top 10 on Billboard and labeled her the first female solo act to win the Shortlist Music Prize – oh, and she was number 19 in Maxim’s Hot 100 women.
But don’t get the wrong idea; her aesthetic is just the surface of her intellectual and emotional depth. Chan showcases her past struggles through seemingly effortless tracks on her latest album, Sun, which coincided with her last break-up. In an interview with The Stool Pigeon, she stated: “I cut my hair off three days after [the break-up], got on a plane to France, and finished the s***,” she continued, “It’s all good, you know. I love the person very much. I actually love this record very much, too.”*
Sun encompasses her delicate voice with a more defiant tone, and packs a powerful punch behind her vocals. We recommend the tracks, “Ruin,” “Cherokee,” and “Manhattan,” because we couldn’t just pick one. Give the new album a listen, fall in love, and make sure to catch Cat Power at Lollapalooza next weekend.
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