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FEIST Pleasure

Feist

Feist
Pleasure
Universal

8/10

Feist’s new track Pleasure is her first in six years, and it somehow manages to sound both novel and nostalgic. Pleasure is the first single off her upcoming album of the same name, due for release on April 28.

All of what you have come to love about Feist is here; her eccentric pop melodies and her natural unforced sensibility, but she delves deeper in Pleasure, somewhere darker and more carnal. Through Pleasure, Feist seemingly reassures us that she is not here to please the masses and succumb to disco electro pop, instead she finds a way to be herself and also push the boundaries. Pleasure proves that there is more to her music than a breathy-voiced, quirky, folk-pop princess. It is guitar driven, dark, diverse and candid.

Pleasure starts with sparse electric blues chords that tangle around her unique and soulful voice. The electric guitar adds a dark and raw rock and roll edge (as previously seen on her Metals album, though not in her bigger hits), yet remains considered and supple enough for the song to begin in a delicate and atmospheric fashion.

The song then takes it up a notch with resounding reverb, delay and layering, adding some nice colour, whilst also working to allow the space and vocals to resonate. “Pleasure, that is how we survive”, she commands, and you get the feeling that Feist makes music and art for her own pleasure, and she doesn’t subscribe to anyone’s expectations or notions.

Pleasure peaks with an echo chamber of warm fuzzy guitar, featuring her erogenous, smoky voice which includes rockabilly style hiccups, whips and curls. The song ends with a swell of  hefty blues guitar over Feist’s trademark ringing harmonies, tribal chanting, clicking and clapping. It’s a climatic ending after a soft, sensual start and you can’t help but find the lips of your mouth curling up slyly and knowingly.

In a musical landscape which now includes female artists such as FKA Twigs, St Vincent and Lorde, Feist still sounds like a breath of fresh air. She does her own thing, no matter what hip direction music is going in. She deconstructs and builds a song like no other, using witty lyrics, emotive guitar work combined with her inherent effortless and earthy presence.

LARA FOX

 

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