As Feist celebrated her 35th birthday earlier this year with an intimate dinner among friends, she was momentarily distracted by the intense flickering of
2011 Moncler Jackets in a nearby room.
The images had been bizarre ?a motorbikes on a stage accompanied by pyrotechnics and music. Whatever it was seemed outlandish and jarring. What, she wondered, could be the spectacle?
It wasn't until she got closer towards the television that the frenetic, choreographed commotion produced sense. It was the telecast of the Grammy Awards. Only three years earlier, she was part of that scene, performing "1234," the song that would make the former indie artist a global sensation ?a in a different out-of-context performance.
Now, watching the awards, the images she saw confirmed how surreal that experience had been ?a and how she just doesn't fit into that poppy, musical globe.
"The Grammys, as well as the magnitude of that spotlight, it wasn't a place where I felt at home. Like what I do doesn't really happen there," Feist stated during a recent interview as she sat on a quiet patio at her downtown Manhattan hotel. "It's such a potent and brief moment, and it doesn't really speak to the truth of what touring and being a musician is. It is mostly fanfare, inflated and very intense. I wasn't feeling very comfortable in that type of setting."
Now that Feist is releasing "Metals," the follow-up to her breakthrough, heralded 2007 album, "The Reminder," she's back in
http://www.mmonclerr.com/Moncler-Jackets-collection-CL2.html. Her fourth album has a darker tone, but still has that otherworldly, mystical quality that has made her one of music's more original voices.
"It's just heading into a much more personal and bold and more uncompromising direction, taking all kinds of risks, which I respect," says her longtime collaborator Chilly Gonzales, one of the album's producers and songwriters. He compares her new album to territory occupied by Kate Bush and PJ Harvey ?a ambitious, daring, but most important, a new direction from "The Reminder" era.
"She's in a great position to push," he added. "I wish more individuals would be more like her ... take those moments when they have those brief little moments and say, 'Let's not replicate that.'"
It would have been tempting to try. Although the Canadian singer already had a name and critical acclaim, it wasn't until she decided to let Apple use a clip of her video for the whimsical "1234" for an iPod Nano commercial that the mainstream public became fascinated with Feist. The clip, which featured dancers in brightly colored outfits, swaying with a sparkly dressed Feist as if it were a scene from a Broadway musical, entranced millions. From "The Colbert Report" to "Sesame Street," Feist and her video created the rounds, along with the song became a pop hit.
Looking back, Feist isn't sure she would agree to let her video be used in such a commercial way.
"When I created that decision, I was in a genuinely different place and I genuinely didn't know; like, no one could imagine that would happen. It was incredible in a whole lot of ways as well, but it is put me in circumstances now exactly where I wouldn't necessarily feel that that is something that could be helpful," she stated. "I landed somewhere diverse than I started, so now I would have very diverse perspectives on all of that, for sure."
When the whirlwind was over, Feist had hit a wall. Including her tour for "The Reminder," she had been on the road for seven years, with almost no time to sit and contemplate new material, or spend time with loved ones and friends. So she retreated, taking about two years off ?a though she collaborated with friends like Broken Social Scene and put together a documentary of the experience of "The Reminder," last year's "Look at What the Light Did Now."
"It's so funny, I almost don't even remember getting time off," she said, laughing. "I didn't do anything specific except not go to a different town each night. I just did everything you can't do whilst you are moving. I planted a little garden and I adopted some dogs. I got a place inside the country and just like hung out within the woods a whole lot. ... It took about a year plus a half of just floating ahead of I got interested in reframing things, which is ultimately what songwriting is."
Musician Mocky, another longtime collaborator who worked on both "The Reminder" and "Metals," stated he was gratified that his old friend remained intact, personally and professionally, following the whirlwind that became "The Reminder."
"She's still exactly the same incredible musician, remarkable performer," stated Mocky, who is a producer and songwriter on "Metals."
"She's not a cookie-cutter type of
Moncler jackets sale . I believe more than men and women realize, she's like a very gritty, excellent guitar player, singer ?a that's exactly where her focus is. She's just focused on the music, and I believe the way that she handled that was great."
Some of the album frames things in a period of turmoil and loss. Songs like "How Come You Never Go There" and "Comfort Me" seem to describe the finish of a romance. Musically, she veers somewhat from "The Reminder" with songs that seem weightier. There is no magically delightful song like "1234." It's a various chapter, by design, even though she worked with many of the same collaborators, this time in a remote compound in California.
"It was like being taken out of our daily lives and plopped into this total timeless place, and Feist sort of in the helm ... taking us on a journey," Mocky said. "When we came out the other side, this album was there, and just had this solidness to it, this realness to
http://www.mmonclerr.com/Moncler-Coats-CL9.html. It's stunning."
And it is the new journey that Feist, who's embarking on a fall tour, is focusing on. Whilst she's appreciative of the new audience "The Reminder" brought to her, she knows what most folks discovered was a fragmented version of herself. With "Metals," she's hoping to fill inside the picture.
"I made the record that I wanted, so yeah, I couldn't be more rooted right now ?a like I type of regained the grip on the steering wheel again," she stated.
