Sun by Cat Power

Chan Marshall, otherwise known as Cat Power has been making records for quite awhile. Her music has had a cult following and is usually sparse and fairly haunting. One could say it is the opposite of the aforementioned Ophelia.

So with her newest album Sun, her first in six years, coming out those of us educated in her music marked the release date on our calenders.

This week the good folks at NPR announced that they would be streaming the full album for those who wanted to preview it before the release date.

After having done so I can emphatically tell you that this album is a huge .....disappointment. I am not an artist, I have very little art like ability, music, drawing, creativity, I am not blessed. So it might well be that an artist wants to try something new. We all have heard the laments of fans of a musical performer who complain that they went commercial or tried to be something they are not, i.e something they have not been before.

Change is hard. So not wanting to be the lamenter mentioned above allow me to just say that Cat Power, in this album, is now nothing special. She sounds like countless singers, singing songs that have no definition and not one iota of specialness. Clearly she wanted to try something different. She has done so but while different for her, regrettably it is certainly not different. It is one of the most non descript, as Simon Cowell would say " forgettable " records I have heard this year.

What a sad waste of expectation.