If her 2005 album Let It Die was the explosion that catapulted former Broken Social Scene singer Leslie Feist onto everybody's radar, her second major-label album The Reminder is a slow burn.
In strong contrast to Let It Die's intense, jazz-like instrumentals, the eclectic The Reminder provides in many songs a pared-down, earthy sound that showcases what Feist does best—sing.
Songs like ""So Sorry"" and ""The Water"" offer very little in the way of instrumentals, with Feist's voice often providing the primary melody. It's a bold, even arrogant move to rely that heavily on an instrument as raw as the human voice, but Feist pulls it off with ease, making the listener forget that only simple piano and acoustic guitar sounds accompany most of the album's tracks. While the lack of instrumentals can at times make the album sound too quiet and folksy, Feist's voice is nothing short of phenomenal.
This is not to say Feist has stopped channeling her late 1970s, jazz disco-diva persona altogether, however. While the album as a whole lacks the quantity of catchy tunes that Let It Die featured, it makes up for it in quality. Her first single off the album, ""My Moon My Man,"" features a driving piano rhythm, a breathy, jazzy chorus and enough percussion to make it one of most amped-up songs on the album.
One criticism of the album, however, is that its lyrics are hit or miss. While Feist has the potential to be a phenomenal storyteller, as evidenced by ""Brandy Alexander"" with lyrics like, ""Though I know what I love most of him / I'm walking on needles and pins / My addiction to the worst of him,"" the album also demonstrates a near-obsession with rhyming that can result in overly cutesy lyrics like ""1234""'s ""123456 9 or 10 / Money can't buy you back the love that you had then.""
Beyond the successful blend of musical styles that has made her famous, Feist continues to mix genres on The Reminder, which features several highly experimental songs. While ""The Park"" on its surface may resemble some of the album's other vocally intense songs, a closer listen reveals that not only are the instrumentals on the song sparse, they are primarily provided by nature. Crickets chirping and the occasional birdcall highlights the Central Park-esque theme of the song, which also features lyrics like, ""Steam from the cup and snow on the path / The seasons have changed from the present to the past.""
Another experimental tune, ""Sealion,"" diverges far beyond Feist's jazz-diva persona into a fun frenzy of a song that at times feels improvisational, with nonsense lyrics that almost resemble scat singing at times.
Altogether, the album is an eclectic mix of genre-bending that almost feels like a science experiment at times. Unlike Let It Die, however, this experiment produces heat, but no sparks, accomplishing exactly what its title suggests—a pleasant reminder that Feist remains a smoldering musical talent.
