Happy 25th Anniversary to Cat Power’s fourth studio album Moon Pix, originally released September 22, 1998.
Released in September 1998 to moderate acclaim, Moon Pix is now revered as the finest record that Cat Power (the moniker for singer-songwriter Chan Marshall) has recorded to date. It is a sonic odyssey into the depths of Marshall's soul, a place where vulnerability meets transcendence, and fragility gives birth to immense strength. It’s a haunted work, allegedly written in one night following a vivid nightmare. The stories around Moon Pix almost feel apocryphal; it's one of those albums with an outsized backstory adding context to every moment. In Moon Pix, we see the task of being an artist as daunting, practically horrifying, but lucky for her audience, Marshall powers through to share her gift.
Prior to the recording of Moon Pix, and during her legendary nightmare, Marshall was staying in an old farmhouse in South Carolina, which aided the spooky, Southern Gothic vibe to the material. Before this premonition, she had reportedly intended to retire from music. While Marshall has been known to fabricate a story, it seems plausible that she truly wanted to leave the scene for good. It’s apparent in her sorrowful lyrics, art is her burden. The hurried creation of Moon Pix feels like Marshall is rushing to unload her work on the world.
In a 2018 interview, Marshall talks about being surprised by the reverence for Moon Pix as her best album. On the precipice of giving up, it seems her work of ponderous self-doubt actually brought her back from the brink. She says, “To me Moon Pix was just so elementary in its simplicity. I never really felt it was that good but people say, ‘It’s your best record.’ ‘He Turns Down’ is about God saying, ‘No, you’re not good enough.’”
On the opening track “American Flag,” a backwards Beastie Boys sample loops while Marshall sings. Halfway through the song, she says, “my new friend / plays drums all the time,” and summons a tumble of snare, as if she’s waking up her band mate. Wonky guitar tunings, fingers left on a string a moment too long—it’s an aloof sounding intro, belying the depths that lay ahead.
While recording Moon Pix, Marshall played guitar and sang simultaneously, a rare occurrence in production. It gives the music an authentic, off-the-cuff quality, and feels uniquely Cat Power. Typically an album of this caliber would come from someone precise and exacting. But Marshall’s unstudied quality only adds more dimension. The sparse, minimalist arrangements of guitar, drums, and occasional piano create an otherworldly ambiance that envelops the listener like a shroud of mist.
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The 1998 release date adds an even richer context. Marshall had made a sad, crazy album in a landscape of bubblegum pop, a witch amongst princesses. The meager production gives space for brilliant lyrics, ones about despair and hopelessness, buoyed by romanticism and perseverance. The haunting “Cross Bones Style” was inspired by African children orphaned by war. “Moonshiner” is a bleak ballad about alcoholism, a major theme in the Cat Power oeuvre. The gentle, nostalgic “Colors and Kids,” is a tender take on the aging and fleeting nature of youth. They’re simple tracks, with lyrics that stay with you long after the song ends, malleable for one’s mood and experiences.
Moon Pix has had a lasting influence on indie and alternative music, inspiring a new generation of artists with its stripped-down, emotionally charged sound. It's often cited as one of the essential albums of the late '90s, and feels especially relevant in 2023, when the current music scene is dominated by women singer-songwriters. Marshall has spent large parts of her career paying homage to those who inspired her, but it’s clear that she is the inspiration now. Phoebe Bridgers, Big Thief, and even Taylor Swift are picking up where Marshall left off, making a new style of American folk, where the artist only has to look as far as their own demons for inspiration.
Working through uncertainty is a universal theme, but so rarely are the artist’s abilities so much greater than their self-doubt. It’s special to witness such a pure creative force. Marshall isn’t the world’s best guitarist, nor a vocalist of impressive range, but she can’t seem to stop making beautiful music, despite all of her best efforts against herself. It’s almost hard to watch, especially in some of Moon Pix's darkest moments, but also impossible to look away from such a bright star.
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