[rating=7.00]
Wanderer, Cat Power’s tenth album, is a return to the slower, softer sound that characterized 2006’s The Greatest, after a brief flirtation with upbeat pop on 2012’s Sun. Cat Power, whose real name is Chan Marshall, has one of the most soulful and emotionally evocative voices in the industry and the new album puts the focus on those vocal chops and on her folksy storytelling.
Over the years, Cat Power’s sound has morphed as various influences come and go and take on added prominence. With Wanderer, the punk attitude of early albums is now virtually nonexistent, and the pop and electronica influences of Sun are few. The album is one of a world-weary veteran troubadour traveling with acoustic guitar in hand and a collection of poignant stories to tell.
Marshall’s voice, smoky, emotionally charged, and subtly powerful, adds soul to the acoustic ballads that make up most of the album’s runtime. The opening title track, in fact, is falsetto, with Marshall’s voice intertwining in a complex vocal harmony that is simultaneously ethereal and depressing. That leads into the brooding “In Your Face,” with Marshall singing over sparse guitar and percussion and a piano fill that adds a bit of tension. “In the arms of the one you love you feel safe; you feel so above the hunger on the streets,” Marshall sings, her voice a soft, throaty croon.
It would be easy for an album that is entirely soft and mostly slow to become monotonous, but Wanderer is able to avoid that for the most part, anchored by strong melodies, poetic lyrics, and Marshall’s distinctly soul-piercing voice.
“Woman,” featuring Lana Del Rey, is one of the album’s standout tracks. Beginning with Marshall slowly crooning over a gentle arpeggio, the tempo increases in the second verse as the drums and bass kick in and Marshall plays a shuffling acoustic sequence. Marshall and Del Rey’s unique voices create a beautiful harmony that carries the empowering song. “Doctor said I was not my past, said I was finally free,” Marshall and Del Rey sing.
Over the course of two cover albums, Marshall has displayed a knack for reinterpreting other artists’ songs, giving them new meanings, tones, and a completely different atmosphere. She does that again on Wanderer’s only cover, the remake of Rihanna’s “Stay.” Rihanna’s slow, heartbreaking piano ballad is slowed down and stripped down further and made even more powerful through its use of silence, Marshall’s vocal phrasing, and a voice that draws every ounce of emotion out of each carefully placed note.
The mid-tempo “You Get” and “Woman” provide brief respites from the rest of the album’s formula of slow coffeehouse strumming and slow piano arpeggios. That formula, however, has been perfected by Marshall, whose whispering voice causes you to lean in and listen intently to each note, each word, and each melody. It’s not Cat Power’s best album nor is it her most interesting, but it is an excellent representation of a singer-songwriter in command of her craft.
