N°117 - FEIST - MY MOON, MY MAN

Amarain means Two Moons in Arabic so the song posted matches perfectly with the previous one.

I’ve been looking for a while to fit Leslie Feist in since I think she’s a great musician and performer but until now it never worked. I posted her as a solo artist but you might also know her from the rock band Broken Social Scene, an art pop, post rock, shoegaze band with a rotating membership up to a maximum of nineteen performers, and Feist is one of them.

Both her solo career as her band membership started in 1999. She put a first record on the shelves by the name Monarch. Born out of two artistic parents (none in music though) it was clear that Leslie Feist would become an artist as well and she laid her heart into music. It actually started when she, as a fifteen year old, became lead vocalist of a local band called Placebo. This is how she met Brandon Canning who invited her years later to join the band Broken Social Science. In time she had learned to play bass- and lead guitar and she was ready to try it solo as well. Her first album Monarch though never made the charts and her solo career was close to die an early death.

Feist started touring with different bands such as Gonzales the following years and at the same time she recorded private demo tapes which she started called The Red Demos. Only three years later she’d find the time and courage to re-record The Red Demos and release a first successful album by the name Let It Die. From this album I’ve taken My Moon My Man for the obvious linking reasons but other than this song there’s also the fabulous Mushaboom. The album won the Album of The Year Canadian Juno Awards and Feist her name was made. The album contained both her own songs as personal interpretations of existing songs.

Again Feist would start collaborating with different other bands and artists such as the British Jane Birkin. In between she’s touring around the globe with her solo project. Her home base moved from Saskatchewan, Canada to the global city Paris, France. Making an international name for herself she was asked to contribute to the Unicef song Do They Know It’s Halloween and in her French period she also starts to gain interests in making movies and her first project is for the soundtrack of the 2006 movie Paris Je t’Aime. In 2006 she again returns to Paris where she uses her network of people to produce a third album by the name The Reminder.

The reminder is being released first in Europe in 2007 and again she goes on a world tour. Again she takes the prizes at the 2008 Juno Awards for Album Of The Year and finally her song 1234 makes it to the top ten in the US Billboard. She also appears with this song on Sesame Street having children to count until four. She’d also appear as a cameo in The Muppets movie last year. Whenever she makes a presence at a movie she usually plays herself.

After taking a long break from Broken Social Science she joins the band again in 2009 for the release of the band’s biography. She promises to join them on a few tours and contributes to the band’s latest album as well. And after these tours she dives back in the studio to create yet another great album named Metals. Released in 2011 it was given the best critics once more elevating her song writing skills. Also in 2001 and elder Feist song; ‘Limit To Your Love’; was being covered by James Blake becoming a huge hit throughout the most of Northern Europe. Nowadays she plans to make a 7 inch split record in cooperation with metal band Mastodon. Feist would cover a few Mastodon songs where Mastodon would interpret some of her songs. But first we grasp back to a classic Feist single: My Moon, My Man. Enjoy listening.