The primary reason to listen to Cat Power is Chan Marshall’s stark, haunting voice that blends the tempered despair of Nick Drake with the distinctiveness of Polly Jean Harvey.
The new Cat Power record opens with a version of the Rolling Stones’ “[I Can’t Get No] Satisfaction,” but you might not recognize it. That’s because on “The Covers Record,” the tired tune is stripped of two elements that best define it as a classic rock anthem: Keith Richard’s rhythm guitar riff and Mick Jagger’s harrowing chorus are noticeably absent. As a result, attention is focused on the verse lyrics, a folksy guitar line and Chan (pronounced Shawn) Marshall’s wonderfully droll voice. This reinterpretation creates something entirely new from the old while capturing a fresh and honest sentiment of dissatisfaction that the original never held in the first place.
From there, Cat Power — Chan Marshall’s pen name — proceeds to rewrite songs in a similar way, breaking them down and rebuilding them from the ground up. Highlights include a chilling version of Michael Hurley’s “The Devil’s Daughter” and a brisk take of the Velvet Underground’s “I Found A Reason.” Marshall saves the best for last with a glistening rendition of Phil Phillip’s “Sea of Love.”
Although past Cat Power records have featured members of Sonic Youth and the Dirty Three backing her, “The Covers Record” relies almost entirely on Marshall’s supple guitar strokes and ivory tickles to create the platform for her voice. That voice is the jewel that makes the almost relentless melancholy bearable.
This album is like a collection of minimalist black and white photographs. Seeing in entirety comes at a single glance, but a fixed stare is inevitable anyway. Marshall proves that it doesn’t take an abundance of musicians to remake the classics, just an ensemble of soul, which she has in spades.
Marshall’s approach toward covers is making them her own, not to simply mimic a song just as it has already been recorded. Covers records, like tribute compilations, often miss that basic idea and drudge over beaten paths. Cat Power reduce instruments without diminishing the song.
“The Covers Record” is an album best enjoyed as it was performed: solo. For Marshall, music is a dish best served cold. But it is her stoic southern drawl and total unpretentiousness that sets her apart from her sultry, breathy peers.
But be warned — this album is the antithesis of party music, and anyone not intrigued by the likes of Leonard Cohen and Elliott Smith should either steer clear or investigate Cat Power’s last, more textured album, 1998’s “Moon Pix” [Matador]. It doesn’t look as if Marshall is going to cheer up anytime soon, and her fans quietly applaud her for it.