Cat Power
Jukebox

The thing that attracts about Cat Power is not how she strums her guitar (sparsely), or plops chords on the piano (forcefully), but her deep, almost hypnotic voice that floats like an endless echo. You wish she would write more original music instead of recording renditions of other people’s work –as she does once again with Jukebox, her second album to be comprised mainly of covers. But there’s also something to be said for her ability to borrow from the past and recreate it into something entirely her own: Just listen to her rendition of Sinatra’s New York, New York and witness the transformation of a generally upbeat big band number into brooding rhythm and blues. Her sound is feminine and soft yet unyielding, and carries in it an intoxicating loneliness that leaves you longing for more. Lisa Liang