Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on January 2010
Photo by Kevin Mcgue
Cat Power shows have been known to be experimental, erratic and unstructured—in 2003, The New Yorker surmised that “it is foolhardy to describe a Cat Power event a ‘concert’.” But at the age of 37, Chan Marshall’s career has already gone through several twists and turns, including an unplanned break due to alcoholism and exhaustion, as well as commercial success with the Juno soundtrack and a cover of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” for a Lincoln Town Car commercial. And so as the lights dimmed at Shibuya O-East on this chilly January night, no one in the packed house was really sure what to expect.
Although Marshall proved her songwriting skills on her first four studio albums, released in quick succession in the ‘90s, since the turn of the millennium she has become equally well known for her covers of songs made famous by artists as diverse as James Brown, Bob Dylan and Hank Williams. “Cover” is perhaps the wrong term for the process, in which she deconstructs a song and rebuilds it as something altogether new and completely her own. Her Tokyo show opened with The Dirty Delta Blues Band playing a swirling guitar riff drenched in reverb, backed by a tight drum line that brought Portishead’s trip-hop to mind. It wasn’t until the singer sheepishly took the stage and began singing that it became clear that this was her take on “House of the Rising Sun,” an oft-covered folk tune that Marshall’s breathy vocals turned into a true cry for help. Although almost every song in the set continued at the same staid pace, the crowd of largely young Japanese fans seemed thrilled just to be in the artist’s presence.
Aside from a few original songs, the set list was heavy on reinterpretations. The Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” was slowed down to the low-simmer blues jam that was always lurking in the background of the Top-10 hit. “New York, New York,” divorced from Frank Sinatra’s schmaltzy crooning, sounded as if it had been recorded by Etta James in 1962. “The Dark End of the Street,” a tale of furtive lovers previously covered by male vocalists such as Wilson Pickett, Gram Parsons and The Commitments, took on a new meaning when sung in a female voice that alternated between seduction and desperation.
Although Marshall is known for her husky—at times even gravelly—vocals, she effortlessly sustained the high notes in her take on Patsy Cline’s “(I’ve Got Your Picture) But She’s Got You.” She was confident and in complete control of her delivery, but came across as a naturally shy performer, spending a good deal of the show hiding in the shadows and ducking behind guitar amps. Tellingly, her only words between songs were an appeal to the control booth to turn down the already low stage lights. The singer seemed transformed, however, during the final song, when she took an armful of bouquets of flowers and threw them to the crowd before graciously taking a deep bow.
