What Would The Community Think?

Description

What Would the Community Think was the second album Chan Marshall released in 1996, but its richness suggests a longer period of evolution. From the first warm notes of In this Hole, its clear that Marshalls voice as a singer and a songwriter is not only stronger and more focused, but more empathetic as well. Where her previous works were dense and cathartic, What Would the Community Think gives her voice and lyrics space to unfurl and involve the listener; the title track alone holds an albums worth of eloquence in Marshalls hushed, clear vocals, backed by guitar, feedback, and an eerie, echoing piano. Fortunately, that leaves Marshall 11 other tracks with which to forge a fine balance between angular, angst-ridden punk and her gentler, folk-country tendencies. Different combinations of these extremes make Cat Powers sound more diverse but also more cohesive. Tense, tight songs like Good Clean Fun and Nude as the News retain the reflective, thoughtful nature of quieter numbers like King Rides By and Water and Air, which turn the power of the albums louder moments into slow-building, implosive tension. Two of What Would the Community Thinks finest moments, They Tell Me and Taking People, are unabashedly blues and country-inflected, revealing Marshall not just as a cathartic vocalist, but as a true soul singer. Similarly, her covers of Peter Jefferies Fate of the Human Carbine and Smogs Bathysphere show off Marshalls ability to make any song a Cat Power song. An intimate, personal album, What Would the Community Think makes imperfection beautiful and turns vulnerability into musical strength. ~ Heather Phares