Cat Power

What makes a good cover song? Authenticity and authorship, the same pop-cultural criteria that apply to an original. In the past two decades, hardly anyone has perfected the art of the cover as consistently and idiosyncratically as the U.S. musician Cat Power. Following »The Covers Record« (2000) and »Jukebox« (2008), now her newest album bears the obvious title »Covers« and gathers songs from Frank Ocean to Billie Holiday. Cat Power transcends the originals in such a way that they become Cat Power songs: melancholic, sad, subtly orchestrated with minimalist groove, and marked by her smoky-tender vocal melting. Comparisons with the originals thus become irrelevant, Cat Power exposes their qualities and engages in a dialogue with them. This is also the case, for example, with the cover of her own song »Hate« from the album »The Greatest« (2006, one of eight equally acclaimed studio albums of her own original songs). In the new version, the song about suicide is called »Unhate« and thus also refers to the survival of a past, more unstable period of the musician, who now presents her latest »masterpiece« (BR) at Kampnagel.