This Feeling Will Still Be Here In My Heart

Cat Power “I Believe In You” – I hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have been so dismissive of Cat Power’s brunch album. I mean, it’s not her, it’s me — I mostly just want her to do one thing, and that thing is Moon Pix, basically: Stark, fragile ballads sung in a way that articulates undiluted pain, loneliness, shame, and love with such primal accuracy that when they connect, the feeling is overwhelming, almost unbearable. The Covers Record and You Are Free had these moments; The Greatest simply did not, because it mostly just kinda sounded like a Beth Orton album or something. Jukebox is another story, though. It doesn’t sound much like classic Cat — this Bob Dylan cover straight-up rocks, for example — and some of the tracks are duds, but when it clicks, it’s very potent stuff. She sounds like a woman who is just beginning to find her strength, and high on the pride that comes with finally getting one’s shit together. There’s still a lot of heartbreak and sorrow, but it is tempered by perspective, confidence, and faith. Above all other things, the Cat Power of Jukebox sounds thankful — for her life, for her art, for the singers, and for the songs that give her inspiration. Keeping that in mind, it doesn’t seem like much of an accident that one of those singers just happens to be the Cat Power of Moon Pix. (Click here to buy it from Amazon.)