Cat Power at Whelans...

jmc

CAT POWER (aka Chan Marshall) has just confirmed her first Irish show in over three years to celebrate the release of her fantastic fifth album, 'YOU ARE FREE'. She plays Whelans in Dublin with full band on Thursday, June 22nd.

"Her interpretations are sung and played so uniquely that you couldn't mistake them for being by anyone but her. Marshall's voice, for one, is consistently amazing; it's soft and scratchy like a handful of just-picked cotton, and she knows precisely when to make it swoop up and slice through you" - NME.

Recorded by Adam Kasper (Queens of the Stone Age, Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam) and featuring contributions from Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder - both avowed Cat Power fans - 'YOU ARE FREE' is Chan's first record of original material since 1998's 'MOON PIX', and sees her at the apex of her talents.

Speaking about his input on 'YOU ARE FREE', Vedder said, "I added a couple of things to her record ... we actually got in a room and sang together, and that was one of the highlights of this year, I think. It might be under a pseudonym, though. That might be a secret ... It's fun singing with other people who are really good singers."

2000's 'THE COVERS RECORD' saw her perform her own brilliant and unique stripped-down interpretations of classic songs like the Stones' '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction' which, with a voice unlike anyone you've heard before, she turns into a bluesy, slinky version emphasising the song's tension and frustration as much as its jaded sexiness.

Other versions on 'The Covers Record' include the late Nina Simone's 'Wild is the Wind', the Velvet Underground's 'I Found A Reason', and 'Red Apples' by (Smog).

Included along with the twelve songs on 'YOU ARE FREE' are covers of folk singer Michael Hurley's 'Werewolf', and bluesman John Lee Hooker's 'Keep On Runnin' (was 'Crawlin' Black Spider').

Broken down to their essentials, songs like 'Good Woman', 'Fool' and 'Speak For Me' could have been written sixty years ago on a rural Mississippi back porch, but Chan ably personalises the traditional so it sounds handmade for the modern day.

Joining Chan on-stage will be:
Will Fratesi - drums
Coleman Lewis - guitar
Margaret White - violin, bass, keyboards.

Tickets €16.50 from City Discs, Road, Soundcellar, usual outlets.

The video for 'He War' from 'We Are Free' is at
http://www.cissme.com/bgroup-us/rm/matador/catpo/video/ole427-2-07_rvh.ram
(Hi, Real Player)

http://www.cissme.com/bgroup-us/rm/matador/catpo/video/ole427-2-07_rvs.ram
(Lo, Real Player)

Raggamuffin

FINALLY a band i want to see...

well take it she is a solo artist but she is ever so good

PiE

Cool... but Eddie Vedder etc? Didn't think she was that well known tbh!