Feist, “The Bad in Each Other”

I am obsessed with the second chord in this progression.

I listened to this album in its entirety yesterday, on the drive back to Minneapolis. While I think it is obvious that this song (the first track) is the best on the album, I’m a fan of this technique.* The album is very stripped down—a music criticism cliché I hate to use, except that it’s very true in this case. There is a lot of empty space, and the space that isn’t empty is filled with really interesting arrangements (a lot of horns, especially, for which I am a sucker). One song (whose particular identity has temporarily slipped my mind) puts clean electric guitar strums in a sort of dance with low-register clarinets. It sounds like magic.

Also, Leslie Feist has an unmistakably good singing voice, in the way most people don’t. 

*Putting the best song at the end is an equally good idea—see “All the Same” on Real Estate’s Days for a good example of this.