Additional personnel: Mick Turner (guitar); Belinda Woods (flute); Andrew Entsch (bass); Jim White (drums).
Principally recorded at Sing Sing Studios, Melbourne, Australia in January 1998.
Somewhere between the narcotic stillness of Mazzy Star and the quiet desperation of Lisa Germano, Cat Power's MOON PIX is a compelling, often powerful album of mostly-acoustic songs delivered in Chan (pronounced "Shawn") Marshall's clear, measured voice. Restraint is key here, although troubling images and a distinct undercurrent of unease percolate through songs like the hypnotic "Cross Bones Style."
Elsewhere, the surprising "American Flag" adds a new but not inappropriate trip-hop vibe, and the delicate "He Turns Down" recalls the best work of early-'70s neo-folkies like Judee Sill or Linda Perhacs, complete with trilling, jazz-inflected flute. However it's the almost stark quietude of "Say," with its perfectly appropriate thunderstorm effects rumbling in the distance, which best sums up the small epiphanies of this often beautiful album.
Professional Reviews
CMJ (2/11/99, p.9) - "...MOON PIX's subtly intense heart-breaking beauty made 1998 [singer/songwriter Chan] Marshall's year, and if her dry shiver of a voice made you uncomfortable at times, it's only because it made her uncomfortable, too..."
