Cat Power's Moon Pix

Marshall reportedly sang part of the set at the Bowery while lying face-down on the audience floor. The episode does cast a different light upon Marshall's latest output.
But the problem with Moon Pix is that, unlike the constantly startling Community, you know everything you need to know about each song about 10 seconds into the first verse.

Marshall builds upon the introductory elements of each tune--the overlapping guitar arpeggios and double-tracked vocals of "Metal Heart" don't quite cohere, creating unsettlingly beautiful dissonance--but never abandons them for others or turns them upside down. Each song shares a similar arpeggiated melody, the same drowsy tempo, the same dazed air. But the production is too crystal-clear for these murky doings, and Marshall's voice sounds big and throaty but resoundingly conventional, without the edges and cracks that gave character to Community.

There's something muffled and tacked-down about Moon Pix, and news of Marshall's public anguish leaves the potentially sympathetic listener in an ironically optimistic position; maybe the excessive restraint and occasional tedium reflect something more compelling than a mere creative slump. I imagine Marshall lying face-down, singing the potentially saccharine lines, "Love is always around/ Love will always love you" (from "Say"), and can only conclude that the most compelling stuff on Moon Pix is the music you don't hear, the things left unsaid. (Matador)

--Jessica Winter

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