“And the lightning lights me up to be as God.”
For the 11-time Juno Award-winning artist, Feist, comes her latest 6th LP, Multitudes, reciting the tribulations of 2019 - the adoption of her daughter and passing of her father. This juxtaposition of life and death within the same breath sees Leslie Feist attempting to holistically confront on her latest offering rather than dwelling in the background and fading into obscurity.
There are many parts here, however, which play into a deeply enticing sense of obscurity. From the boundary-pushing inception to the record, by way of ‘In Lightning’, which initiates a unique art-baroque pop twist to Feist’s holistic world, to the delicately softened vocal harmonies caressing ‘I Took All Of My Rings Off’, many of the tonalities remain in a similar vein to Boygenius’ latest record, particularly as Feist zealously implores to “Lift up the whole earth to singing”. This familiarity eventually gives way to a more rapturous aura within ‘Borrow Trouble’, undoubtedly one of this year’s best folk-rock singles thus far, which fizzles with the kinetic energy of Arcade Fire’s Funeral meshed with the vocal temerity of Sharon Van Etten’s Are We There through the repeated cries of “Trouble!”.
These ethereal and outwardly explosive moments of self-affirmation often give way to sporadic lapses into a curtailing introspection within Feist's period of mourning. Baked within a softened, more acoustic-driven atmosphere, much of the bulk to this LP’s contents evoke relatively trite evolutions as the story progresses, namely successive tracks such as ‘Martyr Moves’ and ‘Calling All the Gods’ dangling from the soaring heights of ‘Borrow Trouble’. In these moments, it seems even the poetic guise of Feist struggles to put into words exactly why the LP’s narrative and evolution digresses from time to time, “My hope is a flickering flame which I’ve found increasingly hard to explain”.
In spite of these inconsistencies, nothing can be stripped from Feist’s lyrical and poetic prowess in determining the powers at force between life and death, “Dust into dust as material must / Ash into ash into plexi and trash / Skilled eyes, monument, styrofoam, time / Carried remainders on overgrown vines”. It is at such moments, particularly within ‘Become the Earth’, where tactically paired-back instrumentation allows the record to break into an uncanny resemblance of Mount Eerie or Adrianne Lenker, embarking on “One breath at a time…another day being alone” in the beautifully crafted ‘Love Who We Are Meant To’. Reaching the LP’s conclusion, Feist positively consoles us within an abrupt landing - her words lingering in the listener’s ears as the delicate instrumentation plays us out of this vignette, “That won’t be undermined / By the overwhelming times / Holding out but not holding in / And it’s from here, we can really begin.”
After taking some much-needed time away from the spotlight since her preceding LP in 2017, the singer-songwriter makes an impressive and impactful return on Multitudes. Her varied instrumentation and progressive songwriting has continued on her latest project, yet a further bolstering experimentalism (seen in places) ultimately goes amiss here. Nevertheless, Feist’s work stands as a poetically pertinent and consoling piece of work, looking to make sense of life and death for not only herself but those closest to her - even within the most challenging of times forcing us to confront such emotions rather than deflect. Multitudes, at the very least, urges this from us.
7/10
Feist's latest LP, Multitudes, is out now via Polydor and can be found below.
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