Cat Power – Jukebox
 

Steps forward for are steps backward for Chan Marshall.

In her recent release, Jukebox. Marshall (a.k.a. Cat Power) presents fans with covers from across the popular musical spectrum, from Frank Sinatra to Janis Joplin, as well as new renditions of her “Naked if I Want To” and “Metal Heart,” and one original, “Song to Bobby.” The album underscores Marshall’s transformation from an excruciatingly shy, unbalanced waif into a confident artist in control of herself and her music which she exhibited on 2006’s The Greatest. But with this new-found stability, Marshall has lost the precarious delivery that suits her style best.

The diverse song selection together with Cat Power’s reverent disregard for the structures of the original tunes, allowing her to completely transform them, are the greatest virtues of Jukebox, reminiscent of her ingenuity on The Cover Record which she released in 2000. Marshall’s version of “Silver Stallion” by The Highwaymen, for example, maintains a gritty country mood but replaces the galloping beat of the original with her heart-tapping guitar rhythms and enigmatic vocal wisps.

The Dirty Delta blues band – comprised of drummer Jim White of the Dirty Three and guitarist Judah Bauer of Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, among others – provide loose, instinctual support to the chanteuse, offering the record a live-album feel. On the energized version of George Jackson’s “Aretha, Sing on for Me,” the band overlays simple, improvisational fills so that the song can find its groove and proceed organically, unrestrained by the structure of the tune. In this spotlight, Cat Power embraces a confident experimentation and self-amusing musicianship which adds excitement to her spacious, longing style–but sometimes at the expense of the emotional function of the song.  A detachment now reverbs through some of Marshall’s phrasings, eclipsing that shaky intimacy and raw connectivity that once defined Cat Power’s appeal. On “She’s Got You,” the measured quality of the 50s doo-wop style inhibits her from fully extracting the soul from the song, a trend that continues on several later tracks.

It’s not that Chan Marshall has lost touch with herself; she just hasn’t quite figured out how to weave her newfound aplomb fully into her music. Still, the album implies that something worth waiting for is on the horizon.