Feist - "Black Tongue" (Mastodon Cover)

This year there's been a bunch of let's say questionable collaborations happening that seemed to occur without rhyme or reason. They've all been more or less hit or miss (mostly miss) but one of the most unexpected ones to roll out between Canadian indie songstress Feist and Atlanta, Georgia metalheads Mastodon is actually excellent. I can't say surprisingly because Feist has a way of imbuing everything she touches with a kind of special awesomeness but there seemed to be so much that could've gone wrong with this and yet, it's utterly perfect.

For their split 7" to be released on Record Store Day (that's this Saturday!), the two decided to take a crack at each other's songs. Mastodon took "A Commotion" from Feist's latest release Metals which makes sense as it's kind of the noisiest, most angry track in Feist's repetoire and Feist took on "Black Tongue", the opening track from Mastodon's most recent release The Hunter. The results are pretty spectacular - namely Feist's portion. Turns out Feist utterly thrives in darker, heavier settings. She doesn't go full metal opting instead for some sort of middle ground that plays to her punky roots while also emphasizing exactly what you love about her: She's ridiculous adaptable - settling for sultry instead of ethereal with her higher notes having just the right amount of wail. It's a surprising enough turn that it makes me hope she lounges around in darker sounds a little longer. Here's to hoping.

Get a taste of Feist's contribution to the 'Feistodon' split 7" - out in just two days!



(via Listen Before You Buy)