'Feistodon': Black Tongue/A Commotion
Warner Bros.
I just thought I'd add my two pennies on this given that despite not attending Record Store Day (due to personal responsibilities, not lack of support for the cause), I have managed to listen to this limited release 7" that caused quite a commotion (pun very much intended) building up to its release, not least because of the unlikely connection between Canadian songstress Feist and Atlanta, Georgia metal titans Mastodon, which developed following their respective appearances at the same recording of the Jools Holland Show last year.
Having pledged to work on a release together, the respective parties managed to squeeze in a split 7" release into their extremely busy schedules, each artist cover one track from one another's back catalogue – Feist choosing to cover 'Black Tongue' from Mastodon's 'The Hunter', and Mastodon selecting 'A Commotion' from Feist's 'Metals'.
I wasn't a great fan of Feist before 'Feistodon' came along and that won't change with this release. That '1, 2, 3, 4' song irked the hell out of me, no thanks to Apple, but she is undoubtedly a talented singer/songwriter who is worthy of the acclaim that comes her way. Some positive comments have come her way regarding her cover of 'Black Tongue', which I unfortunately must disagree with. Vocally she does a good job, creating something of a dark, haunting effect in the process. I fully expected her version of the song to not come crashing over the hills in the fashion that Mastodon do, but the arrangement of the song in this instance does nothing for me. It seems too disjointed if anything, a valiant attempt to turn the song into an electro-rock lurker, only to judder too much over its course.
By contrast, Mastodon, no stranger to covers and indeed to Record Store Day, do an incredible job of making 'A Commotion' their own. I can see why they chose it – out of the Feist material I've heard to date this one fits them the best – and the result is something that honestly wouldn't sound amiss on one of their later records. It quietly builds up with just the chug of the guitar and quietly spoken vocals. When Brann Dailor pounds a thunderous roll, it begins to feel like a proper Mastodon song, bearing Mastodon's signature power chords. The only grumble is that the chorus suddenly concludes the song – that works for Feist's version but on this particular cover, it feels like there's something missing, like it ends too soon.
Nonetheless, this was an interesting experiment and a welcome one at that from these two unlikely collaborators. My personal take is that it's not the wholly amazing 7" I perhaps expected. At the end of the day, it's not something to judge the artist's by' more a show of fan appreciation, support for the record industry, and a display of risk taking. In a day and age where risk is rarely rewarded and uniformity is depressingly the norm, it's a refreshing signal to see artists from two different walks step a little out of their comfort zone.
Peter Clegg
No comments:
Post a Comment