The quiet power of Feist's Multitudes

Feist's Multitudes is one of this year's 10 Polaris Music Prize-nominated albums, and CBC Music's Shortlist Shortcut series is back to help music fans find out the key details about the shortlisted record.

Dig into the stories behind the albums, the tracks you need to know, and the perfect summer activities to complement your listening. You can also listen to The Ten radio special on the album, below.

Artist:

Feist.

Album:

Multitudes.

Polaris Music Prize history:

This is Feist's fourth appearance on the Polaris Music Prize short list. In 2011, she won for her album Metals, and in 2017, her 2004 album, Let it Die, won the Heritage Prize, which was voted on by the public. 

Story behind the nominated album: 

Like many albums in recent years, Feist's Multitudes first took shape in lockdown during the pandemic. The singer-songwriter experienced a lot of change in the span of a few years: in 2019, she adopted her daughter, and in the spring of 2021, her father died. Those two events altered everything in Feist's world, suddenly making her contemplate the cycle of life as she found herself confronting death and birth in such close proximity. "It's a necessary cycle," Feist told the Guardian, "I think until you either meet birth or death you don't really know where you are on that assembly line [of time]." 

As Feist, and the world at large, was experiencing unprecedented levels of upheaval, the former Polaris Music Prize winner turned to songwriting to synthesize her myriad feelings. Being a single mother, she had to seize moments of stillness around her daughter's schedule, leading many of her songs to take on a quieter, almost lullaby or ASMR-like quality, such as when she ends "Forever Before" by whispering, "She's sleeping right over there." The hushed nature of Multitudes (about half of the tracks don't feature drums) doesn't leave Feist with much to hide behind, and as a result she trades in her signature lush metaphors for a much more candid approach to songwriting. "Everybody's got their shit," goes the starkly direct opening of "Hiding Out in the Open," "but who's got the guts to sit with it?" 

In April, Feist told CBC's Q that "being a parent will incinerate you." But Multitudes both presents a new version of Feist and provides her with the breadcrumbs for her future self to continue learning and discovering who she's becoming — as a woman, a mother and a friend. Love and grief are intertwined throughout the album, but what makes Multitudes shine are those glimmers of hope planted deep within dark moments, reminding us to always search for the silver lining.

Notable players:

A number of Feist collaborators return on Multitudes, including longtime friends Chilly Gonzales (keyboards), Mocky (instrumentation, producing) and Robbie Lackritz (producing, engineering, mixing). Musician and producer Blake Mills, who has worked with Fiona Apple, Bob Dylan, John Legend and more, produced a number of tracks on the album, including "Borrow Trouble" and "Of Womankind." And Shahzad Ismaily (Arooj Aftab, Owen Pallett), noted by the New York Times as every "musicians' favourite musician," also provided keyboard, vocals, drums, bass and organ to many tracks. 

Standout songs: 

'Forever Before'

"I've never begun a forever before," Feist admits in the quiet opening moments of this track. That is until now, when she finds herself sitting next to a sleeping baby straddling the lines of fear and fearlessness that come with being a new parent. The track is a gentle, soothing lullaby that provides a moment of reassurance in an album and a world that is otherwise saturated with doubts and uncertainties. 

'I Took All of My Rings Off'

Feist interrogates societal ideas that have shaped our lives using the imagery of rings representing family and commitment. It's an enlightening tale that includes some of the most sonically interesting decisions made on Multitudes, with the track almost floating off into the cosmos as the song builds.  

Recommended if you like:

Jenny Lewis, Cat Power, Leonard Cohen or Joni Mitchell.

Summer activity pairing:

Multitudes acts as a perfect transition album, taking us from the final days of summer into the cozy fall months. Put this album on as you cuddle up next to your friends on your last picnic of the year.

Don't miss Shortlist Summer: a season-long showcase of the 10 albums shortlisted for the 2023 Polaris Music Prize. Read the weekly Polaris Shortlist Shortcut feature at cbcmusic.ca/polaris and tune in to The Ten radio special every Sunday night at cbc.ca/listen.