Feist
Multitudes
INTERSCOPE
Leslie Feist was a force of nature in the indie-pop world during the mid-aughts—her Apple sync behemoth “1234” alone helped to define a generation of ubiquitous music-listening technology. Sixteen years later, the one-time Broken Social Scene member continues to play a series of wild cards on her sixth album, Multitudes, her first LP in six years.
Album opener “In Lightning” is the most immediate and gratifying of the three early singles from the album. The clattering percussion and growling electric guitars are not the sole moods on the release, though. As the album title suggests, Feist proves that she contains multitudes here—she sings about keeping spirits high even in the midst of a darkened world, as a string section fade through and synths dive bomb over the nonspecific lyrical hook.
Feist is unflappable in comparison to other indie artists that feel more labored in their pursuit of artistic endeavors. In fact, “In Lightning” is a real misdirect as an opener. Many of the songs on the tracklist (“Forever Before,” “Love Who We Are Meant To,” “Martyr Moves”) are relaxed acoustic numbers that usher in a calm and reflective mood that feels like a slow dip in cool waters, a way to shake off the traumas of yesterday with a bit of self-care reflectiveness today. Later on, she sings about chasing those uplifting feelings on another hushed song called “The Redwing”: “The endless way of our lives / Can be lifted up like wings.” This album doesn’t rush itself; instead it complements Feist’s fiercely intimate series of performances from earlier this year where she sang acoustically to only about 200 fans.
The recording of Multitudes occurred after the death of Feist’s father and the birth of her daughter. “The last few years were such a period of confrontation for me, and it feels like it was at least to some degree for everyone,” she noted in a press statement. “We confronted ourselves as much as our relationships confronted us. It felt like our relational ecosystems were clearer than ever and so whatever was normally obscured—like a certain way of avoiding conflict or a certain way of talking around the subject—were all of a sudden thrust into the light.”
On “Hiding Out in the Open,” Feist speaks to that feeling of stepping into the light of conflict and seeing yourself and loved ones in spare and raw-nerve ways. The song opens by kicking down an emotionally dead-bolted door: “Everybody’s got their shit / Who’s got the guts to sit with it? / Everybody’s on their own / So that way we’re never alone.” The song, like many on Multitudes, floats around the room and envelopes, rather than pushes, its agenda. These little musical worlds are amorphous, which can prove to be a bit dull toward the very back half of the album.
Loud pop statements are rare for this record. The booming chaos heard on “In Lightning” only returns for the other early single “Borrow Trouble.” The infectious song flies on the back of surging strings and a full rock-band stomp. Feist does pull back the noise for the verses, where she sings about destructive mornings in the wake of sad life events: “Thoughts will find a clock to wind / And put dissent into your ears.” We borrow trouble from ourselves and others every day, and Feist is beautifully trying to offload some of her traumatized personalities. Multitudes is a brave, outsized, and intrepid statement from a veteran poptimist.
