By: Brittney Corridean
Growing up, we all have our musical idols that we adore and idolize to the point where we feel we actually know them through their influential music. Some of those singers/songwriters stick with us and no matter wherever else our curious ears travel, we always come home to that loving voice that made the hair on our arms stand up and feel like someone “understood” us. For me, that is Chan Marshall- better known as Cat Power.
The quintessential queen of indie rock, Cat Power has a way of captivating her listeners with her airy voice and elusive lyrics. Soon to be approaching its 20 year anniversary, What Would the Community Think, was her third album and released in ’96. The songs are dark and slightly depraved; which actually makes absolute sense considering it was produced by Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley and took place in the heart of the 90’s alternative/grunge/indie scene.
Even though the album didn’t get too much recognition in the mainstream, a lot of critics felt it was the first album that portrayed Power’s growth as an artist and what would soon culminate into her being a top of the line musician. The album starts off with slow moving “In This Hole” which uses minimal instruments (as does the rest of the album) where it’s just her voice and a repetitive guitar rift accompanied by the xylophone, making light to the dark actuality of the lyrics.
In this hole we have fixed
We get further and further and further
Further from the world
We must do
We must do
As the album goes on, “Nude as the News” has been debated to be the greatest song Power ever made. It has a heavier grunge sound that exudes pain and anguish. Power later confessed that the song is about an abortion she had had in her early 20s and how it affected her mentally and spiritually.
Jackson, Jesse, I’ve got a son in me
Jackson, Jesse, I’ve got a son in me
And he’s related to you
He’s related to you
He is waiting to meet you
This was the album’s single and could be the reason it got such considerable recognition.
Other songs on the album really incorporate an array of different genres such as blues, punk, indie/folk. For instance, “They Tell Me” starts out with an obvious traditional blues rift that stays consistent throughout the song. In fact, most songs on the album stay pretty consistent with the rifts and melody. It’s a hard time to differentiate when it’s a verse, chorus, bridge…this could contribute to the fact that Power’s early musical experiences were free jazz and experimental. Her younger performances have been stated as being “improvisational” and “eccentric”. The mixture of the genres gives way to her musical freedom, but the plunging steadiness of the guitar, again, notes to the listener that it’s definitely from the 90s.
Since this was her first actual studio album, it’s critical to the roots of the talent Power now possesses, but listening to her more recent stuff, such as her 2012 album Sun, it’s not hard to tell how she developed as an artist. Power has a timeless voice that is memorizing. Though this album is early in Power’s career, it’s detrimental for fans to know where she came from and understand her versatility as an artist.
