The Cat's Cradle plays home to another Southern cat Friday as singer/songwriter Chan Marshall (aka Cat Power) meows her way into the Triangle, bringing with her an introspective barrage of deafening near-silence that may not leave you feeling fine. Touring in support of her new album You Are Free, Marshall embodies a rare style of sulking and morbidly meditative simplicity.
Despite droves of positive reviews and a wide underground following, it's a love-it-or-hate-it face that this cat puts up for show, as her music's bleak dark constancy can strike a discordant chord. If you dig acts like Pedro the Lion or Ben Harper, then Marshall's reflective and exposed musical style is for you. If not, then she may just become that whiny girl in the corner wailing away at the world.
Her songs are powerfully simple, putting together concentrated, chalky vocals over a single piano or guitar. When the parts are compounded, there is a sort of out-of-tune discontinuity that belays a deeper transient pull. It's easy to lose yourself in her delivery of lyrics that might otherwise seem benign, and it's easy to be drawn in by melodies a child could play. The raw emotion of her performance makes her much more than the sum of her parts.
If you're feeling slightly down, contemplative and wrapped up in a sea of worry in this world that just doesn't care anymore, head down to the Cat's Cradle. Chan Marshall's got your cat's meow.
- Charles Lin
Check Cat Power out at the Cat's Cradle Friday night at 8:30. Tickets are $12 if you buy them in advance, and Entrance is the opening act. Charles would also like to offer his sincerest apologies for ending his story with that "cat's meow" pun.
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