Cat Power - Wanderer

Cat Power
Wanderer
2018
Spotify

Chan Marshall has done it all, modelling, acting and singing, the tre triple threat. However for the past six years she has taken a break from recording, leaving a huge gap between her ninth album and this her tenth. I am a huge fan of edgy music, music that has a certain snarl and power to it. There is however a space in that for music that is delicate and soft, music that gains it's power from laying back. Wanderer is that kind of record. This record blows in like a gentle breeze. The thing about this kind of music, singer song writer stuff, can so easily sound contrived and derivative yet Marshall manages to avoid all of those pitfalls. You get that sense on "Woman" which features Lana Del Rey, where instead of sliding into the normal tropes of the genre these two ladies set this slow burn track on fire. You could say this was adult music, but it really doesn't feel like that, it just feels easy and clean in a way that few artists are willing to expose themselves these days. There are no tricks, no real attempts to "make" anything work and instead there is just this ease with the way the music spills from Wanderer that is really incredible. Even on "Horizon" where only the slightest autotune slips in everything still feels organic and raw. Marshall often sings to this unknown "you" allowing the listener to interpret the songs in their own unique way. It allows the songs to be so much bigger and more connected than they might have otherwise.

One of the album's highlights is a stripped down version of Rihanna's "Stay". While the Rihanna version has this powerful uplifting vibe to it, this version feels more scared of being alone. This music fully cuts out the bullshit, which is a welcome sound where so much of what we hear today sounds like utter nonsense. You never get the sense that Marshall is creating music that she feels is "important" and instead is just trying to mine emotion from every story she tells. The album is perfect length at just 37 minutes allowing the impact to be made and then for it to slowly drift away on another gust of wind. This is really a wonderful album and one that I often wouldn't find so engaging but Chan Marshall makes it work and work well. You can hear the things she feels in each and every note and word. This is an album that was cared for and allowed to fully bloom something we are so often not allowed to hear due to time contraints and market pressures. Wnaderer exists as a template for acoustic music done right, listen up folks.

8.3 out of 10