Tuesday, November 02, 2004
Speaking For Trees
Physical State: springy
Mental State: loopy
Music: Cat Power - Speaking For Trees
Fashion sense: black longsleeve shirt, jeans
As one of the most devoted Cat Power fans (as most of my friends know) I was really looking forward to the release of this new DVD project, Speaking For Trees. Well let me say that there ain't much to it but it is very wonderful. The 2 hour DVD is one static camera placement, shot on video film of Chan Marshall dressed in a loose black t-shirt, jeans and barefeet playing her electric guitar in a secluded wooded area in upstate New York. That is all it is but I'll be damned if the setting doesn't make her songs all the more powerful for it. It's a very intimate connection to the songs that you have when watching this DVD, the crickets and rustling leaves and quiet seem like the perfect environment for these songs, to be fully engaged by them. Her closing off camera song called "Lord Help..." towards the end, without musical accompaniment, may be the sweetest sound I have heard in a long time. There's a simplicity and classic quality to her rural blues sound and she could sing the phonebook and it would sound like nothing you ever heard before, seriously.
Most of the "movie" has Chan playing her electric guitar in her trademark way and that sweet voice that renders classics like "Knocking on Heaven's Door", The Everly's "Dream" mixed with "Blue Moon" and "Try a Little Tenderness", and others sound like they are truly her own songs. It is a bit of a voyeuristic look into how Chan practices. As a guy who hangs around his apartment standing up and noodling with my guitar I could see a definite attraction to this pastime. For people who have seen her live and say she's boring or not a great performer they have to see this DVD. There's a simple and quiet grace that comes from viewing this DVD that puts her in a class all of her own. Even with the tv screen off this DVD works (its more than an album but not really a film either, hard to describe really). My only comment is that I wish that Mark Borthwick had used different camera angles but I am assuming that the set up is intentional (like you were sitting in a lawn chair witnessing your own private concert with Chan). Added to the DVD is a bonus cd with an 18 minute epic called "Willie Deadwilder" that she performs with M. Ward and was recorded during the You Are Free recording sessions.
If you're a fan you'll be very comfortable and happy with this release. You'll have a more intimate connection with one of your favourite artists and get a sense of where she's coming from. If you're new to Cat Power then this is a great introduction to the quietness and subtlety of Chan Marshall's talent. Definitely worth checking out.
