The Reminder by Feist (Vinyl record album review)

Record basics

• Album name: The Reminder
• Artist name: Feist
• Year: 2007
• Number of discs: one
• Label: Cherrytree / Interscope Records
• Collection: Essex
• Distinguishing characteristics: the vinyl is an unusual translucent red color
• Buy it on Amazon: $28.96

My review

Level of familiarity before listening

I have never heard of Feist and don’t know anything about… them? her? … or this record.

What I expected

Maybe folk rock or soft rock?

What it was actually like

A bunch of these songs were pretty boring and uninteresting to me, tending towards slow tempos and minimal acoustic instrumentation. The first track, So Sorry, was one of them, and was really about Feist’s vocals, which were good, but not Laura Nyro level good, or even Melanie level good.

The Park was similar, as was The Water, which had lots of piano and was quite slow, and was probably the most boring song on the record. I also put the more soul-sounding Brandy Alexander, as well as Intuition and How My Heart Behaves, in this category.

On the other hand, several of these songs were different, interesting and weird.

The best, and definitely the weirdest, was Sealion, an interpretation of a Nina Simone version a traditional song. I thought its clapping rhythm was great, along with its prominent bass guitar and keyboards. I especially liked how it turned into a rock song with a great riff after a minute, and its catchy Nintendo-inspired sound effects, and it had a great ending that sped up and had multiple electric guitars.

Another that I liked a lot was I Feel It All, which sounded like a 1990s style post-new wave song, also with strong rhythm. The part with the piano playing against the guitar’s distortion was very nice, and I also liked how she used electric distortion on her voice to match the guitar.

Honey Honey had a similar new wave sound, experimental and electric, with a weird sounding riff from a keyboard, but it was also pretty good.

Two songs, My Moon My Man and Past in Present, reminded me distinctly of the Strokes, the former because of its dramatic throbbing guitar riff. I thought it would be cool for Feist to collaborate with them.

I also enjoyed the banjo and trumpet in 1234, and The Limit to Your Love was also a strong rhythmic blues rock song with excellent vocals.

Grade

4/5: would listen again