Feast on Feist

Ah, the beauty of a mixtape. Or its contemporary, the mixdisc. It’s a modest, crafted way of telling that someone special how you feel or introducing new music to someone who otherwise never would have given it the time of day. Such is the case of a disc I received from an old college pal a few weeks ago. We periodically exchange new music. I get indie; she gets thump-thump. Is typically how it works.

So this would be the first time I’d heard Leslie Feist, a Canadian-born songstress … and oddly Peaches BFF. Yes, THAT Peaches. You can imagine my amazement when I found that the two had worked together because Feist has a completely different sound. In fact, at first, I actually thought I was listening to Norah Jones or Bjork. Strange that the two would even come up in the same sentence, but Feist somehow incorporates both into her vocals that’s really quite unique sounding. Very sultry and soulful. (Mushaboom.)

I got two discs that day and of the two, those that were Feist were really stand-outs. So much so that I ended up purchasing some of her other tracks from iTunes. I’ve just never heard anything like it; it’s so different and refreshing and really evokes a certain mood and moment in time … nostalgic sounding.

I mention this because she really seems to be a gem and though she falls into a pop category in digital music stores, I find her sound to be much more folk meets R&B … indie. Unless of course, she’s being remixed by The Postal Service, which offers a more electronic feel.

Nevertheless, I post because she has a new album coming out called The Reminder, slated for release on May 1. I loved Let It Die and am really looking forward to hear what she offers up in her next installment.

Intrigued? Hear more here and here.