His ideas were often ambitious and he became a famed civic entrepreneur through his ability to infiltrate and collaborate with all walks of Toronto city life. He wanted to put Toronto on the world’s stage and bring the world to Toronto. The Reminder’s release coincided with the culmination of my dad’s tireless efforts to launch a passion project combining his love for his adopted city of Toronto with his desire to celebrate its diversity through arts and culture. Those Sunday mornings at home in Toronto were infinitely precious to me.
REMINDER SONG RATING FULL
When “I Feel It All” bounces in on full blast I can picture dancing round my kitchen as a teenager in my boxer shorts and socks, riling up my dogs into a flurry of chaotic joy and screaming “I love you more!” That feeling is captured perfectly in the ecstatic video for the song, with Feist running in a field banging oil drums to life, erupting in a burst of sparks that turns into a full-on fireworks display. Her’s is a voice unlike any other it soars and glides over you, enveloping you in her fanciful turns of phrase. We were not a religious family, but every Sunday when the first resounding declaration of “I’m sorry” heralded the launch of the next 50 minutes of domestic bliss, we became worshipers at The Church Of Feist. He bought The Reminder CD and it quickly became a staple of our Sunday morning line-up, sandwiched between Simon And Garfunkel’s Bookends and Joni Mitchell’s Blue. My dad was an enthusiastic music buff and his taste dictated mine (for better or worse) for as far back as I can remember. The Reminder has followed me wherever I go since it was released on - 10 years ago this weekend. If anything, they are probably the least memorable tracks on what I, as a proud Feist fangirl, believe to be a virtually flawless album. And those songs that everyone knows? They aren’t any less good because everyone knows them. It means that I fucking love Feist and I fucking love this album. So I’d rather say it’s just a woman and avoid this conversation altogether. These are the hits and some people will use them as a frame of reference with which to judge me, not just for my musical tastes but now my body, too. Or maybe they know “My Moon, My Man,” which also received considerable airtime as a single off the album. Yes, she sings that song, the one from that ubiquitous iPod Nano commercial. I can’t help but cringe if the immediate follow up question is: “Oh, you mean like the girl that sings the ‘one, two, three, four’ song?” Always asked with a slightly disparaging tone. Sometimes I tell them it’s “just a woman.” Sometimes I say it’s Feist. When someone asks what The Reminder artwork on my bicep is, I often judge the questioner based on how they’ll judge my answer. People with tattoos know that this is not always the case sometimes a tattoo just looks cool or funny or beautiful or whatever. For people without tattoos, there is this assumption that all tattoos must have some deep personal meaning. Most people ask me what it is, or what it means (ugh).
Some people recognize the lines shooting out from Leslie Feist’s silhouette immediately. I'm not trying to bash this album-it definitely has its merits-but it's not a no-brainer classic.I have the cover of Feist’s third album, The Reminder, tattooed on my upper left arm. It's bad enough that some of her vocals were recorded in cheap-equipment-indie fashion, but the last 4 minutes of The River reminded me of obnoxious female singers who can't craft melody-which Feist isn't, adding more confusion to the mix. For the most part the melodies save the quieter works (especially in Limit To Your Love and How My Heart Behaves-let the latter one sink in and you'll see why she closes the set with this gem), but on songs like The Park, The Water, and Intuition, she takes things down by more than just a notch-she almost drives you away by these sleepy, droopy-lidded songs that really should've been b-sides. It's hushed and quiet save for the songs she's already set to video. If you're a fan of Let It Die, be warned: there's a reason every critic used the word "intimate" to describe this outing.
If you're Far from being the best album of the year, but a solid album after softening some of my initial reactions with repeat listens. Far from being the best album of the year, but a solid album after softening some of my initial reactions with repeat listens.
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