Cat Power - Wanderer

Personnel: Patrick Warren (strings). Audio Mixer: Rob Schnapf. Recording information: 10K Islands, Miami, FL; Mant Sounds, Los Angeles, CA; Pink House Studios, Miami, FL. Photographer: . Arranger: Patrick Warren. Cat Power's Chan Marshall releases albums so infrequently that when they arrive, they're an event -- and the six years between Sun and Wanderer were certainly eventful for her. The day Sun was released, Marshall nearly died; eventually, she was diagnosed with an immune disorder that hindered her ability to tour in support of the album. She then discovered she was pregnant with the son she gave birth to in 2015, and creative differences with her longtime label Matador led her to release Wanderer on Domino Records. These are the kind of life-changing events that, with any luck, make a person stronger. If Wanderer is anything to go by, Marshall must be unstoppable. She packs the enormity of her experiences into songs that are fearless in their starkness, and a far cry from Sun's