Released 31/08/2012
'Sun' is the new studio album from Cat Power. Six years after her last album of original material ('the Greatest', 2006), Chan Marshall has moved on from her collaborative forays into Memphis soul and delta blues. She wrote, played, recorded and produced the entirety of 'Sun' by herself, a statement of complete control that is echoed in the songs' themes. Marshall calls 'Sun' - "a rebirth," which is exactly what this confident, ambitious, charismatic record feels like. ‘Moon Pix' (1998) was about extreme isolation and survival in the crazy struggle," she says. "Sun is don't look back, pick up, and go confidently into your own future, to personal power and fulfilment." The music on 'Sun' employs a sweeping stylistic palette: there's the classic Cat Power - haunting guitar and provocative vocal hook in 'Cherokee' ("marry me to the sky...bury me upside down"); the irresistible latin-sounding nine-piano loop of 'Ruin'; upbeat, almost dancey electronic anthems like 'Real Life' and '3,6,9'; and the stirring, 8-minute epic 'Nothin but Time,' featuring a vocal cameo by Iggy Pop. The swagger of 'Silent Machine' brings to mind mid-70s Jagger, contrasted with the unusual, sparse production of 'Always on my Own'. The narrative arc of the record is deeply optimistic; the music is defiantly modern and global. Though devoid of grave bedroom confessionals, 'Sun' is possibly cat power's most personal album to date. For all its layered expansiveness, it is as handcrafted as her debut, and never has a Cat Power album so paralleled her personality and state of mind - channelling her humour, anger, deep empathy, musical inspirations, technical skill, and spiritual inquiry into an album that's both surprising and comforting.
Disc 1: Cherokee Sun Ruin 3,6,9 Always On My Own Real Life Human Being Manhattan Silent Machine Nothin But Time Peace And Love