A few years ago, after my girlfriend first found out about Chan Marshall through a friend, she went through a phase where she played almost nothing but Cat Power for like eight months. And I'm not talking about the newer, faux-funky, almost-has-a-faint-trace-of-a-pulse Cat Power, I'm talking about the older stuff, the pre-
Greatest stuff like
Moon Pix and
What Would The Community think.
To put it politely I am...not a fan. I guess it's a chick thing, maybe. I thought I was gonna kill myself if it didn't stop. I mean, she loves all that Leonard Cohen, Mazzy Star wispy, pretty, lilting, detached bullshit, but Cat Power makes that stuff seem like death metal.
But there is one song,
Names, that absolutely knocks me out; it's so sad that it's almost surreal in the depression it exudes, and the melody is phenomenal, like a lullaby you would sing to your kid when you don't want it to wake up again.
It's weird that I cannot stand anything else Chan Marshall does. Usually if I am really taken with a song, then I at least like some of the band's other stuff. But not so with the CP...
Names however, is mind-blowingly great.
Actually, I also like
Color and The Kids...and that silly little spoken-word duet where that chick is trying to get Chan to come over and play with her cats.
Holy f***...I think I'm growing a vagina.