FEIST
Metals
Cherrytree/Interscope
Rating: 
Feist is a singer (first name Leslie) and a project responsible for two highly regarded albums (2004’s Let It Die and 2007’s The Reminder). But in 2011, Feist is, above all, a brand. It’s a delicately jazzy sensibility that can be used to sell iPods and cell phones—a nonthreatening form of hipness suit able for your mom’s hair salon. Yet even by Feist’s (the person’s) own flighty standards, Metals is maddeningly vague: a tasteful potpourri of finger-plucking and crooning. The best track, “Bittersweet Melodies,” can’t decide if it’s a dreamy pop song or an ornithology exam. “Birds are telling me stories / say ing you were meant for me,” she coos. We’re surprised they didn’t try to sell her an iPad as well.
