What is it about Cat Power's music that conveys "I'm depressed" to you?

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I've been trying to figure this out for a long time. All I ever hear about her is "give this woman a Prozac," or "music to slit your wrists to," dread despair suicide ad nauseam til the cows come home.

And I don't really hear it.

Cite some instances where Cat Power actually conveys "depression," and stick to talking about the songs instead of the live antics.

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 00:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm not saying she's cheerful, but I'm tired of her being the strawman for indie gloom when there are dozens (hundreds?) of equally/more gloomy artists one could point to.

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 00:33 (twenty-two years ago)

to me, her voice has an innate melancholy quality. which adds positively to her less-overtly-sad songs and makes her obviously-sad-songs quite unlistenable.

― the surface noise (electricsound), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 00:34 (twenty-two years ago)

melancholy != depressed

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 00:35 (twenty-two years ago)

i don't find her music depressing, unless you're including lyrically. "names" is totally fucking depressing lyrically.

― the surface noise (electricsound), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 00:41 (twenty-two years ago)

depressing != depressed

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 00:42 (twenty-two years ago)

apparently i've missed the point

― the surface noise (electricsound), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 00:45 (twenty-two years ago)

I saw her the other night, actually. and she did exactly what she does on record--no antics, no breakdowns--which is sound petulant and passive-aggressive, which are generally not-bad signs someone is depressed. right, they don't = depressed, but they sure signal it.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 00:52 (twenty-two years ago)

matos otm

― Dean Gulberry (deangulberry), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 00:56 (twenty-two years ago)

matos != otm

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 00:57 (twenty-two years ago)

petulant and passive-aggressive, which are generally not-bad signs someone is depressed.

or they could just be petulant and passive-aggressive. that's not a sign of anything, simply a couple of behaviors that sometimes manifest among people who aren't completely happy (nb "not completely happy" != "depressed").

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 00:59 (twenty-two years ago)

and speaking of petulant and passive-aggressive . . . .

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:00 (twenty-two years ago)

hmm well there's a fair bit of lyrical content that speaks quite clearly of feeling alienated and detached but there's not really any overtly "i'm sad" type stuff

― the surface noise (electricsound), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:02 (twenty-two years ago)

I guess what this thread is really about is people maybe misdiagnosing others as being depressed. It's easy to throw that word around, and very often what one person observes to be depression is just a more low-key, reflective sort of personality.

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:04 (twenty-two years ago)

uh, matos??

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:05 (twenty-two years ago)

right, getting onstage (figuratively or literally) in front of a bunch of people and acting like a leave-me-alone mope is really a low-key and reflective kind of action.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:06 (twenty-two years ago)

actually having read mostof her lyrics there's nothing clearly about her at all

― the surface noise (electricsound), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:07 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, I did that a little bit earlier too--thinking, "is it just the voice or is it the lyrics too?" I've never been able to get past the voice or the music so I always went by that. if I'm wrong, I'm wrong. but yeah, it does feel overwhelmingly like that, at least to my ears.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:09 (twenty-two years ago)

well i think (based on the little i know about her as a person) that she has problems that go beyond typical depression. but i'm not informed enough to speculate about what they are.

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Jode--it's frustrating to try and give a serious answer to a question being posed and be told "no, it's not that way at all"--I made a lot of allowances in my first answer because I wasn't trying to sound authoritative. you asked and I answered. when you argue with all the answers people offer, and you had up till then, it does sound petulant.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:11 (twenty-two years ago)

or more to the point "it's not that way at all across the board"--it's the across the boardness that sounds defensive

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:12 (twenty-two years ago)

MAN this is a funny thread!

bad jode obviously:
a. doesn't want to believe that cat power is depressed/sad/unbearable/vile/awful
b. started this thread to make a point about depression which has little to do with cat power

― adam michel (adam michel), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:14 (twenty-two years ago)

I meant to imply that "!=" = "does not necessarily equal." I'm trying to get other people to question the way they perceive depression. Also, I'm not saying it doesn't exist in her music at all -- but I was hoping for a few concrete examples, something convincing.

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:16 (twenty-two years ago)

adam, see my post above. and i do think my point about depression is relevant.

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:17 (twenty-two years ago)

give jode some prozac

― adam michel (adam michel), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:19 (twenty-two years ago)

no thanks. maybe some booze though -- my insurance plan doesn't cover that.

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:22 (twenty-two years ago)

http://toychest.diamondcomics.com/toys/03_02/drinky_crow2.jpg

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:27 (twenty-two years ago)

To illustrate with a knee-jerk post from another thread

Cat Power: "I'm sad."

-- nickalicious (nza2342...), December 15th, 2003

So if someone sings a certain way about traumatic subject matter, then this automatically makes them depressed?

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:29 (twenty-two years ago)

or just sad?

(sorry)

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:31 (twenty-two years ago)

I suspect there's a double-standard w.r.t. Cat Power too. For example, if I took jode's opening paragraph and replaced "Cat Power" with "Radiohead", would people still be as dismissive?

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:35 (twenty-two years ago)

admittedly my perception's a little skewed because i don't hear depression as a major player in radiohead's music either, and sadness is spelled out very explicitly in yorke's subject matter. i think it's possible to sing about those themes, revisit them again and again, without your stated goal being "showing the world what agony i'm in."

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:38 (twenty-two years ago)

haha xpost

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:38 (twenty-two years ago)

(and i believe they would be dismissive w/r/t radiohead)

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:39 (twenty-two years ago)

what do stated goals have to do with perception, and since when do stated goals override perception? the intentional fallacy to thread!

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:42 (twenty-two years ago)

they don't! but what if you're perceiving something that isn't (overarchingly) true? if someone sings explicitly about depression, why (and maybe this is a stupid question) is the perception that the singer is depressed and not merely exploring those sensations/feelings?

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:49 (twenty-two years ago)

it's a hell of a label to slap on someone.

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:49 (twenty-two years ago)

obv you can interpret however the hell you want, but there is more than one interpretation. (and that applies to what i'm saying too.)

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:51 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, especially when they've been flogging the same morose shtick in public for seven years straight

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:52 (twenty-two years ago)

To most people, all indie music is 'depressing music'. I kind of understand their viewpoint.

― N. (nickdastoor), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:52 (twenty-two years ago)

no one should take cat power this seriously

― adam michel (adam michel), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:53 (twenty-two years ago)

seconded!

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:53 (twenty-two years ago)

what is it about Junior Senior's music that conveys "I'm giddy" to you?

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:55 (twenty-two years ago)

note auto-summarize thread

― adam michel (adam michel), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:55 (twenty-two years ago)

are you done yet?

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:57 (twenty-two years ago)

what is it about Black Flag's music that conveys "I'm angry" to you?
what is it about My Bloody Valentine's music that conveys "I'm on drugs" to you?
what is it about James Brown's music that conveys "say it loud I'm black and I'm proud" to you?

there. now I'm done.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:58 (twenty-two years ago)

melancholy does so = depressed. we have science now, you know.

― g--ff (gcannon), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 01:59 (twenty-two years ago)

yeah, especially when they've been flogging the same morose shtick in public for seven years straight

So I didn't know a thing about Cat Power (sure, I've heard the rumors, but hadn't heard any of the albums) until this year. Saw her live twice, and saw a couple of pretty decent shows. I still fail to understand the hate - is she slitting her wrists on your lawn?

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:03 (twenty-two years ago)

.melancholy does so = depressed. we have science now, you know.

Then we better core dump prozac to all of ILE/ILM right this second.

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:05 (twenty-two years ago)

there. now I'm done.

What is it about Matos' posts that conveys "I'm absolutely hair trigger" to you?

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:06 (twenty-two years ago)

not a lot, really

is all of ILx that melancholy? i wouldn't have thought as much

― the surface noise (electricsound), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:07 (twenty-two years ago)

anybody who can go on tour year in and year out and put out albums and do interviews and show up for photo shoots can't be all that unstable. she would be hiding under the bed and putting one album out every 7 years if that were the case. she's fine she just likes to whine and live vicariously thru kristen hersh. nothing wrong with that. she's too wordy to be depressed. maybe she has a mild case of autism.

― scott seward, Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:08 (twenty-two years ago)

answering the thread's question as honestly as I can /= hate, necessarily, although nope, I'm not a fan. and if you're having a hard time understanding why I'd find a whiny, hoarse singer who moans over two-note guitar tedium annoying, well, you're a lot nicer a person than I am.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:08 (twenty-two years ago)

now that I've seen the "hair trigger" post, let me take the "nicer person than I am" comment back.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:10 (twenty-two years ago)

f you're having a hard time understanding why I'd find a whiny, hoarse singer who moans over two-note guitar tedium annoying, well, you're a lot nicer a person than I am.

How do you feel about Dylan?

(note, I'm not equating Cat Power to Dylan at all - just making the observation)

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:12 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm locking this thread. I don't like what it's turning into and I don't see any more substantial discussion coming out of this.

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:13 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm unlocking this thread coz its not right to lock it.

also so i can post what i wrote before it was locked:

um hello all her songs are in minor keys! minor keys = sad!

someone all of whose songs are sad, you think they're a consistently sad person! someone who's consistently sad is depressed, tho not clinically speaking necessarily!

(n.b. i really like cat power)

people in assuming the mood of a singer's songs conveys their personality shockah!

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:16 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm unlocking this thread coz its not right to lock it.

if otherwise nice people are acting like assholes it is.

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:18 (twenty-two years ago)

I sort of see your point but I don't agree with it--I find Dylan a lot less monotonous (by design and in sum effect), and I like his guitar playing more. and while I wouldn't agree with someone who disliked Dylan's voice I wouldn't question their right to think that--surely the same applies to Cat Power.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:18 (twenty-two years ago)

xpost city

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:19 (twenty-two years ago)

(and thanks, Sterling, I had a very lengthy, thought-through response that got lost when the thread got locked.)

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:20 (twenty-two years ago)

(the post above is a condensed version)

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:20 (twenty-two years ago)

"otherwise nice"?

("MATOS!")

haha, sorry.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:22 (twenty-two years ago)

it's tired, Sterling.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:22 (twenty-two years ago)

(matos is a doll, btw. i just found some of the responses on this thread a bit on the "unnecessarily mean" side.)

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:24 (twenty-two years ago)

well, I'm teasing you! you brought up this subject that's obviously very sensitive and then you get all weirded out when people don't answer the way you want them to. it's very frustrating.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:25 (twenty-two years ago)

as far as ET goes, whatever, dude. you know better and so do I.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:26 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm not weirded out! insofar as people not answering the way i want them to, i only want people to answer the question without defaulting to their standard "i hate cat power" rants. there are c/d threads for that.

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:28 (twenty-two years ago)

I didn't default into an "I hate Cat Power" rant! I gave tangible reasons why one might think she's depressed. if you read more into it than that, it isn't my fault.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:31 (twenty-two years ago)

i don't hate cat power. but i also don't think she's curaaaaazy and a lot of her fans love to revel in her supposed curaaaaazyness. the whole-let's go to a live show and watch her freak out freakshow thing, it's fucking gross-she's a lot smarter than that and she knows what she's doing.

― scott seward, Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:33 (twenty-two years ago)

scott seward so otmfm it hurts.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:33 (twenty-two years ago)

sorry, matos, i just never got to tease you about that before.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:34 (twenty-two years ago)

Sterling, you mentioned it about 90 times when I was last in NYC, when you weren't bringing up Meltzer.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:36 (twenty-two years ago)

I think it's the continual use of A minor.

― Berkeley Sackett (calstars), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:37 (twenty-two years ago)

the droning quality doesn't hurt the perception either. drones + minor chords + moany vocals.

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:38 (twenty-two years ago)

did i!? sorry. i was sorta tired then and the night was mainly a blur of you and jess reminiscing about rave.

drones + minor chords + moany vocals also = spacemen 3 though?

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:40 (twenty-two years ago)

i think also the singer/songwriter illusion that if i am performing this mainly alone and i wrote it then it is ME is impt.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:40 (twenty-two years ago)

do you think that style is its own musical idiom? if so, is there room for non-depressives to create music in it?

(double xpost)

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:42 (twenty-two years ago)

the s/s illusion certainly applies here. even if everything she writes is fiction (and J0hn D to thread), though, the attraction is essentially people watching/identifying with someone working thru their demons onstage. that's not a value judgement, it's an observation

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:44 (twenty-two years ago)

(referring more to droney minor key singer-songwriter stuff than dronerock, which obviously is its own idiom)

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:44 (twenty-two years ago)

xpost again

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:44 (twenty-two years ago)

non-depressive to create music in it: again, J0hn D to thread! (in a very very general way) (and xpost: yes, s/s

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:45 (twenty-two years ago)

)

― M Matos (M Matos), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:45 (twenty-two years ago)

the attraction is essentially people watching/identifying with someone working thru their demons onstage.

in some cases, sure. other people might be drawn to her for purely musical reasons. i like her voice, her guitar tone, her choice of covers. i like the emotional quality of the music but whether it's a depressive quality or not doesn't factor into why it resonates with me.

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:51 (twenty-two years ago)

if i'm not a huge cat power fan it's only cuz i already feel emotionally invested in lisa germano and kristen hersh and buffy st. marie and mary margaret o'hara and sandy denny and chi(pronounced SHY)coltrane and shirley collins and june tabor and maddy prior and lida husik and a lot of other quirky idiosyncratic singer/songwriters who place a premium on emotion and pathos. not to mention meredith monk and yoko ono and diamanda galas. i mean i only have so much room for psychodrama and the unknowable power of vulnerability.

― scott seward, Tuesday, 16 December 2003 02:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, but how many of those ran off the stage crying every.single.show.

― may pang (maypang), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 03:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I have it on some authority that chan has a heroin problem. I don't know if that necessarily means she's depressed but it explains a fair amount of her unpredictability and weirdness.

― guy (akmonday), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 03:00 (twenty-two years ago)

i like all those people too! as i said, it's an idiom. i'm a punk/disco/psych completist, so i'm from the "there's always room for one more" school.

(argh)

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 03:02 (twenty-two years ago)

i mean if i had to choose, i would choose to listen to Anneke from The Gathering any day over chan. Cuz Anneke not only has a better voice and better songs and better stage presence and better all around rockability, she also is just a more enjoyable singer to be around. and a better band to be around. and a better vibe to be around. and their albums are way better. and they are still filled with pathos, sadness, dread, and life's confusion. but they fill one with hope! but that's just where i am now. when i was younger i certainly loved to fill my head with horrible nothingness and sadsack woe.

― scott seward, Tuesday, 16 December 2003 03:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, but how many of those ran off the stage crying every.single.show.

have you been to every single cat power show? i've heard this happens fairly frequently but i've also heard many accounts of cat power concerts being entirely uneventful.

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 03:05 (twenty-two years ago)

Well, it happened the one time I went to go see her. Therefore I have to figure it happens during all her shows.

― may pang (maypang), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 03:09 (twenty-two years ago)

ladies and gentlemen, induction!

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 03:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Cat Power Live

― scott seward, Tuesday, 16 December 2003 03:14 (twenty-two years ago)

That's exactly the same as the show I was at, only it took place in Toronto. But really.. what IS it about her music that conveys "depressed" to you? The listener.

― may pang (maypang), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 03:19 (twenty-two years ago)

Cite some instances where Cat Power actually conveys "depression," and stick to talking about the songs instead of the live antics.

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 03:21 (twenty-two years ago)

All music (to the depressive) speaks of the depressive. All music (F to C e.g.) is sadness. Like techno. Sadness is not depression. Alternatively, G7 to Am. Is Cat Power depressed, like pavement shit? Who blames her, if she is? Dm. Em. Boredom. Bon Jovi does this not at all well. Cat Power has some god-given voice that does the same but twice as better. It's F to C. She won't kill herself to make her albums twice as bad.

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 03:23 (twenty-two years ago)

What he/she said.

― may pang (maypang), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 03:25 (twenty-two years ago)

The way everyday folks use the word "depressed" is quite different from the way doctors use it, or the way people use it when they are referring to a medical condition. It's perfectly fine to call Cat Power "depressed" -- you're not trying to state anything that's absolutely medically verifiable when you say that, you're merely offering an impression of how her music comes across to you, by using a word that will resonate with people and allow them to understand what you mean. It just seems a little odd to worry about the term being used in this context. It's like, if I say a singer sounds "crazy," does that mean I think he has an actual psychological condition, that he needs literally to be medicated?

― Clarke B., Tuesday, 16 December 2003 03:51 (twenty-two years ago)

crazy meaning what?

― bad jode (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 04:02 (twenty-two years ago)

Very early in the thread, you say "depressing /= depressed" -- true in medicine, obviously, but for criticism it works. When people say Cat Power is "depressed," they're responding to how her music sounds to them. They aren't diagnosing. So if I say, for example, David Thomas sounds crazy, I don't mean that he belongs in an asylum. It's not that I *don't* mean that; it's more that it's not an issue. It's outside the realm of the use to which I put the word in that particular utterance.

― Clarke B., Tuesday, 16 December 2003 04:08 (twenty-two years ago)

++that word around, and very often what one person observes to be depression is just a more low-key, reflective sort of personality.++

OTM

plenty of her lyrics point to depression, sadness, issues w/family, friends.
as a person she can be up or down. depends on the day really. some may say this is a disorder.

some sad lyrics:

I'm 65
Nobody in my family knows I'm alive
Hey little girl
I would've cut your hair off
Hey little girl
So I can
Pour water on

Most of the lyrics are about her addi(t friends , family problems, general shittiness of the wrld

//From six to seven he'll be all alone,
So he turns on televison,
Doesn't even notices this is the hours roll by,
It's lost inside the screen,
Watches the film about the evening sky,
It was someone else's dream.

//Father said he was gonna give me something,
He gave me hate.
Brother is old and grey,
Brother is old and grey,
Brother is old and grey,
And he's only ,
He's only seventeen.

//Big monster lover
A bigger pusher over
Stands alone in most walks of life
Walks alone in most walks in life

Like I heard her
Backwards saying
I can take one thousand
Showers
And never be clean

And I will drink myself to
Death
If I'm never in
Down with you
Like you don't know

world In this hole we have fmost

,pmsdfkjnsdafkjndsff et further and further and further
Further from the world
We must do
We must do

I saw you asleep beside a wall
Your skull inside the wall
Your mind blackened by
All the thought of God

We must do
We must do

I saw you asleep beside a wall
Your skull inside the wall
Your mind blackened by
All the thought of God

― kephm, Tuesday, 16 December 2003 17:32 (twenty-two years ago)

(i forgot to edit my post)
fwiw: she is a huge fan of spaceman3

― kephm, Tuesday, 16 December 2003 17:38 (twenty-two years ago)

I can understand where Jode is coming from on this thread. I think some people project an impression of Cat Power onto her music based on anecdotal evidence from other sources. I haven't been following Cat Power for years, and I've never been to one of her shows. Pretty much my only exposure to her is through You Are Free, which I bought because I liked the songs that I had heard from it. There is a feeling of melancholy that runs through many (not all) of the songs on the album, and some of the songs (e.g., "Free") sound positively upbeat. I'd say she doesn't sound any mopier than Leonard Cohen, Robert Wyatt, Morrissey, or many other singers. Does this mean they're all depressed?

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 17:45 (twenty-two years ago)

what is the matter with being depressed?

― kephm, Tuesday, 16 December 2003 17:51 (twenty-two years ago)

It doesn't sound like much fun.

― o. nate (onate), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 17:52 (twenty-two years ago)

eh-what do i know, "i dont get KISS" & i am american (actually i do get it, but dont care)

― kephm, Tuesday, 16 December 2003 18:50 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't think it would have crossed my mind if I hadn't heard so many anecdotes, gossip, etc about her supposed mental disturbances. I've seen her 3 times and she never freaked out or anything. She seemed reserved or nervous maybe, but I wouldn't have thought, "oh, there is a depressed human being" necessarily.

Her songs sound melancholy because her voice is just sorta mournful, and the arrangements are usually spare-- even the major-chord progressions sometiems sound dusty and precious and sad in a way, but then she has her rocking numbers too. So I wouldn't have thought she was a particularly depressing musician. People just gossip too much.

― Blood and sparkles (bloodandsparkles), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 19:11 (twenty-two years ago)

I'd say she doesn't sound any mopier than Leonard Cohen, Robert Wyatt, Morrissey, or many other singers.

Morrissey had a much better sense of humor about it, though....and he's 8 million times better a lyricist/singer/frontman/performer/depressive indie icon.....

(I do like Cat Power though, but I only own You Are Free)...

― Matt Helgeson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 19:11 (twenty-two years ago)

IMO You are Free is her weakest album

― kephm, Tuesday, 16 December 2003 19:46 (twenty-two years ago)

okay also when i saw her she played with piano accompanied by "the passion of joan of arc" and there were all these images of this woman about to be burned and looking sad and passionate.

― Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 21:30 (twenty-two years ago)

I think this thread has effectively established that Cat Power is, in fact, (to one degree or another) a sad and melancholy musical artist.

― Matt Helgeson (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 21:36 (twenty-two years ago)

what the hell is an "xpost"??

― Michael Dubsky, Tuesday, 16 December 2003 22:56 (twenty-two years ago)

cross-post. when there are posts in between your response and the post you were responding to.

― the surface noise (electricsound), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 22:56 (twenty-two years ago)

/me looks upthread at the posts where matos wishes someone cared that he was depressed as much as they do about cat power

― Dean Gulberry (deangulberry), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 22:59 (twenty-two years ago)

after reading all of her lyrics in one session i don't care about her at all anymore

― the surface noise (electricsound), Tuesday, 16 December 2003 23:10 (twenty-two years ago)

thanks surface noise. for some reason i thought it might have been "excellent post!", or a repeat post, or ...

― MIchael Dubsky, Tuesday, 16 December 2003 23:18 (twenty-two years ago)

I love Cat Power a lot, and while I'd agree that she seems not-too- terribly happy herself, I honestly don't find her music depressing per se, aside from a few songs (most notably, "Names" off You Are Free), though I respond to her albums differently depending on my mood.

I think Matos hit the nail on its head, though, regarding both Chan, Dylan, and, by implication, I guess, any singer with a different sort of voice. I don't know that I would care much at all for Cat Power if it weren't for her voice which I actually find, simulataneously, oddly poignant and really sexy.

― Josh Timmermann (Josh Timmermann), Wednesday, 17 December 2003 02:44 (twenty-two years ago)

Her current eggs-is-tens is all about how her (real? fake? dunno!) depression/craziness/stagefright/visions-of-monsters is the focus of her press instead of her music. The question shouldn't be, "Is she or isn't she?" But rather, "why in the FUCK am I even thinking about this instead of her rad/shitty songs..." Maybe the only thing you can infer about her as a person is that she has an apparent willingness to conspire with her publicist to set in motion a chain of events that waste the time of everyone who posted to this thread...

― John 2, Wednesday, 17 December 2003 02:47 (twenty-two years ago)

She left the stage crying when I saw her play. I have no choice but to think about this.

― may pang (maypang), Wednesday, 17 December 2003 02:56 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm not depressed at all, Dean. get real.

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 17 December 2003 03:01 (twenty-two years ago)

Josh Timmerman OTM.

I've only seen Cat Power live once, and it was a long show (45 mins w/ band, 45 mins solo), lots of fun (yes, fun, she even acknowledged that herself), and kind of mesmerizing. She even did a cover of "Dead Leaves on the Dirty Ground".

I agree "Names" is depressing, partly because she chooses to showcase such starkly truthful lyrics with a really mundane, hackneyed melodic structure. But 2/3s of You Are Free is profoundly beautiful -- and beauty cannot be depressing, by fucking definition!

― David A. (Davant), Wednesday, 17 December 2003 08:17 (twenty-two years ago)

(Which, I think JBR is getting at in her initial question.)

― David A. (Davant), Wednesday, 17 December 2003 08:18 (twenty-two years ago)

actually having read mostof her lyrics there's nothing clearly about her at all
It's the *sound* and the performance/aura whatever. Words don't matter as much as to how the lyrics are conveyed. Hence Black Flag sounds angry, Cat Power sounds sad. I interviewed her once. She was extremely sweet up until the point I asked questions about the music and related subjects. The performance itself was also somewhat... unstable.

― nathalie (nathalie), Wednesday, 17 December 2003 08:23 (twenty-two years ago)

And that reminds me -- another thing I love about Chan Marshall is her unadorned, unalloyed love of music.

I don't think it's about ego for her. It doesn't seem to be, anyway. And she gets pissed at the "cult of celebrity" thing, even though she does play the game by performing live, etc.

But yeah, it can be music about sadness without being "depressing", just as in the other examples cited on this thread (Dylan, Cohen, etc.).

― David A. (Davant), Wednesday, 17 December 2003 08:28 (twenty-two years ago)

beauty can certainly be depressing, unless you wrote your own dictionary

― M Matos (M Matos), Wednesday, 17 December 2003 08:30 (twenty-two years ago)

Haha, okay, maybe not by definition... but, to me, beauty simply cannot be depressing. (Sad, melancholy, even bleak, maybe, but...)

― David A. (Davant), Wednesday, 17 December 2003 08:50 (twenty-two years ago)

depression is just one of many psychological problems that a person might have. she definitely seems to be stricken with something, given the number of times her sets have broken down in confusion and frustration, or the one time i saw her when her set can be said to never have gotten off the ground in the first place.

― amateur!st (amateurist), Wednesday, 17 December 2003 13:16 (twenty-two years ago)

seven years pass...

was just thinking... whatever happened to cat power's huge comeback/breakthrough and commercial success?? she put out The Greatest 4-5 years ago now, then that really lame covers album (not The Covers Record... the other one)..... and now, nothing. it seems like she was poised to hit NYT/NPR/Pfork paydirt with all the accolades in conjunction w/ coming out of alcoholism & "getting help" etc. -- and then she just kinda disappeared.....

― i genuinely thought when i first joined that he was the admin (ilxor), Monday, 20 December 2010 20:58 (fifteen years ago)

also what happened to Lady Sovereign

― the distance between me and a sackful is gonna be like 0 inches (rip van wanko), Monday, 20 December 2010 21:08 (fifteen years ago)

Someone give this woman a Prozac

― Moka, Monday, 20 December 2010 23:27 (fifteen years ago)

lol

― Zsa Zsa Gay Bar (jaymc), Monday, 20 December 2010 23:28 (fifteen years ago)

I think Leslie Feist beat her at her own game.

― Darin, Monday, 20 December 2010 23:37 (fifteen years ago)

well, RIP cat power

― omar little, Monday, 20 December 2010 23:38 (fifteen years ago)

Ah, Lady Sov, the great white hope of ILX.

― thirdalternative, Monday, 20 December 2010 23:42 (fifteen years ago)

http://agent007blog.com/files/2009/03/blofeld2.jpg

― omar little, Monday, 20 December 2010 23:45 (fifteen years ago)

I hear she's trying to do a Plan B under another name

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xqIdFU0TRg

― reallysmoothmusic (Jamie_ATP), Monday, 20 December 2010 23:48 (fifteen years ago)

never listened to cat power really, but I like this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcORVY9UGIY

― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Tuesday, 21 December 2010 00:33 (fifteen years ago)

has she been diagnosed for anything?

tomitstube 1 month ago

― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Tuesday, 21 December 2010 00:34 (fifteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NlGxSaY8XM

― Є|Э (Edward III), Tuesday, 21 December 2010 00:44 (fifteen years ago)

She just announced some west coast tour dates today so there you go:

http://consequenceofsound.net/2010/12/20/cat-power-announces-west-coast-tour-dates/

― Darin, Tuesday, 21 December 2010 02:51 (fifteen years ago)

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