2012, Matador

VINYL FORMAT. Comes with a digital download code! Sun is the new studio album from Cat Power. Six years after her last album of original material, Chan Marshall has moved on from her collaborative forays into Memphis soul and Delta blues. She wrote, played, recorded and produced the entirety of Sun by herself, a statement of complete control that is echoed in the songs' themes. The narrative arc of the record is deeply American in its spaciousness and optimism, but the music itself is defiantly modern and global.

The music on Sun employs a sweeping stylistic palette: there's the classic Cat Power haunting guitar and provocative vocal hook in "Cherokee:" the irresistible Latin-sounding nine-piano loop of "Ruin;" upbeat, almost dancey electronic anthems like "Real Life" and "3,6,9;" and the stirring, 8-minute epic "Nothing But Time," featuring a vocal cameo by Iggy Pop.