The US-American singer/songwriter, musician and producer Cat Powers aka Chan Marshall released her new album Covers on January 14th 2022.
Covers is a bull’s eye – no surprise for all those who know previous albums Powers
Known for your exceptional sense of reinterpretation and an almost magical feel for sounds, it’s little surprise that your new album is a smash hit.
Powers arranges and reinterprets, in the course of the album covers, the songs of other classical and contemporary musicians.
+++ If you like Cat Powers, you’re sure to love Angel Olsen – read our review here +++
First song of the album is a reinterpretation of the song Bad Religion by Frank Ocean.
Instrumental minimalism meets electrifying, emotive performance
Power’s music is instrumentally minimalist, mostly accompanying herself with piano or guitar. Finally, the sound is embedded in drums, violin or other instrumental accompaniment.
Her full, sensual voice resonates with the instrumental sounds almost symbiotically. The song interpretations of the country singer, are surrounded by a mystical, melancholic veil.
Power’s voice is characterized by a duality of strength and fragility
Vocally, Powers recalls a mix of Lana del Rey and Southern country singers.
Pa Pa Power the second song of the album, moves with double intensity, through the depth of your voice and a transcendental music video that makes you remember past moments of freedom.
Whether music really touches is up to the performer. His feeling for sounds. The arrangement and accentuation of the tones. Powers, through her soulful, vulnerable way of reinterpreting songs, manages to stop time for a moment and make the listener go deep into feeling.
In the music video of Pa Pa Power, the crowd dances happily, lively.
Powers creates space vocally. Through your authentic performance, the crowd’s sense of loneliness, of feeling lost in the Trouble, is legitimized. Her interpretation of the song shows the emotional finding process in the moment of despair.
Powers produced covers single-handedly
Powers neues Album Covers wurde vollständig von Ihr produziert. Es enthält Neuinterpretationen von Lana des Rey, Nick Cave, Frank Ocean, Bob Seger, Iggy Pop, Jackson Browne, The Pogues, The Replacements und weiteren Interpreten. Zusätzlich interpretierte Sie ihren Song Hate (The Greatest Album 2006) neu und nannte ihn Unhate.
Emotional reminiscence – reinterpretation of I’ll Be Seeing You
The last song on the album is a reinterpretation of the song I’ll Be Seeing You by Billie Holiday. It is a soulful reminiscence of the feeling of loss. She dedicates the song to Philippe Zdar a colleague and creative confidant who worked on her album Sun (2012).
“When people who you love have been taken from you, there’s always a song that holds their memory in your mind,” “It’s a conversation with those on the other side, and it’s really important for me to reach out to people that way.”
– Chan Marshall aka Cat Powers
Powers cover songs are an important part of your musical canon
Powers cover songs have been an important part of their musical canon since their previous albums The Covers Record (2000) and Jukebox (2008). The crucial point, of your reinterpretations, is Power’s authentic performance. Their reinterpretations are more than competitive. Powers first proved this with her Bad Religion performance on The Late Late Show with James Gordon. It almost seems as if she rearranges songs with the blink of an eye.
powers leaves musical traces
Powers is considered a luminary in your field and your musical genius is undeniable. Covers received enthusiastically positive articles and reviews in The Guardian, The New York Times, and The Cut.
Powers and Lana Del Rey’s duet on Woman was called a “trembling manifesto” by the New York Times.
One thing is clear, Powers leaves musical traces that write music history. Your authenticity and character ensure that listeners are invited into a world bubbling with creativity and emotionality.
