When 2007′s The Reminder unexpectedly catapulted indie pop singer Leslie Feist from acclaim in her native Canada to international success on the back of two major TV commercials, the record industry suddenly got wise to a major untapped market for female singers who aimed a little higher than the prevailing Britney/Barbie model. So in came Adele and Duffy and Florence Welch from England, along with Sara Bareilles and Colbie Caillat from America, to capture an audience eager for something catchy yet not aimed primarily at kids. Having broadened and brightened the options for female musicians more or less accidentally, Feist faced a dilemma with her follow-up: How does she address a mainstream market she didn’t set out to attract?

There’s no obvious follow-up to her iPod-promoted hit “1234.” Nor is there an abrupt stylistic shift to compete with the likes of Lady Gaga. Instead, Metals both builds on The Reminder and strips it down. It acknowledges her fame with a sound that’s at times bigger and more epic that its predecessor, yet affirms her mortality with human-sized intimacies and conflicts. Written last fall and then recorded the following winter on the cliffs of Big Sur with longtime collaborators Chilly Gonzales and… read more »