The Reminder

The Reminder
Studio album by Feist
Released	April 23, 2007
Recorded	March 2006
Genre	Indie rock, baroque pop, indie pop
Length	50:01
Label	Cherrytree Polydor Arts & Crafts Interscope
Producer	Gonzales, Feist, Renaud Letang, Mocky, Ben Mink
Feist chronology
Open Season (2006) The Reminder (2007) Metals (2011)
Singles from The Reminder
"My Moon My Man" Released: March 6, 2007 (2007-03-06) "1234" Released: September 5, 2007 (2007-09-05) "I Feel It All" Released: May 26, 2008 (2008-05-26) "Honey Honey" Released: "Sea Lion" Released: 2007 (2007)

The Reminder is the third full-length album by indie artist Feist. It was released on April 23, 2007 in countries outside of North America, and May 1, 2007 in the United States and Canada.^[1]

Following its release, it debuted on the U.S. Billboard 200 at number 16, selling about 31,000 copies in its first week,^[2] and debuted at number 2 in Canada, selling just over 18,000 copies.^[3] As of July 25, 2011, the album has sold 729,000 copies in the US.^[4] The Reminder was also the best selling album of 2007 on the iTunes Store.^{[citation needed]}

On November 25, 2008, the Deluxe Edition released as a two-disc package featuring nine bonus tracks on the second disc.^[5]

Release

Track 6 of the album, "Sealion" is an adaptation of a song by singer Nina Simone (Broadway-Blues-Ballads, 1964). The original title was "See Line Woman" (a reference to sealions was never intended), and refers to the life of an upper class prostitute.^[6]

Confirmed singles include "My Moon My Man", "1234", "I Feel It All" and "Honey Honey". The "My Moon My Man" single includes a remix by German electronic musician Boys Noize. Videos were directed by Patrick Daughters, who also directed the video for "Mushaboom".^[7] During September 2007, the song "1234" was featured in Apple's television advertisement for the third generation iPod nano. The advert caused a sudden increase in the song's popularity, which resulted in a surge in the song's chart position. It reached number 8 in the UK Singles Chart on October 7 and number 8 in the Billboard Hot 100 for the week ending October 13. The music video was shot in a single unbroken take after two days of rehearsals.^[8] Time magazine named "1234" one of The 10 Best Songs of 2007, ranking it at #2. The song was written by Australian artist Sally Seltmann (aka New Buffalo). Writer Josh Tyrangiel called the song a “masterpiece”, praising Feist for singing it “with a mixture of wisdom and exuberance that's all her own."^[9][10] eBay also used the song in Australian advertisements. Another single, "My Moon My Man" was used in a Verizon Wireless commercial.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[11]
The A.V. Club	A−[12]
Blender	[13]
Entertainment Weekly	(A)[14]
The Guardian	[15]
The New York Times	(positive)[16]
Pitchfork Media	(8.8/10)[17]
PopMatters	(9/10)[18]
Rolling Stone	[19]
Slant Magazine	[20]
Stylus	C+[21]

This album was No. 35 on Rolling Stone's list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007.^[22]

On July 10, 2007, the shortlist for the Polaris Music Prize was revealed. The Reminder was announced as a finalist, alongside such other acts as The Besnard Lakes, Chad VanGaalen, and eventual winner Patrick Watson.^[23][24][25]

Kaleefa Saneh of The New York Times ranked The Reminder at #1,^[26] and John Pareles ranked it at No. 2 on list of the 10 Best Albums of 2007.^[27]

Less than a year after its release, Blender listed it 80th on their list of The 100 Greatest Indie-Rock Albums Ever.^[28] Online music magazine Pitchfork Media placed The Reminder at number 112 on their list of top 200 albums of the 2000s.^[29]

Feist won the 2007 Shortlist Music Prize for "The Reminder"; she is the second woman (after Cat Power) to ever win the award.

It won Juno Awards in 2008 for Pop Album of the Year and for Album of the Year. After winning her 5 Junos, in Canada her album sales shot back up the chart from No. 12 to No. 2, the position her album debuted at.^{[citation needed]} It was also nominated for Pop Album of the Year at the 50th Grammy Awards.

Track listing

All songs written by Feist, except where noted.

1. "So Sorry" (Feist, Dominic "Mocky" Salole) – 3:12
2. "I Feel It All" – 3:39
3. "My Moon My Man" (Feist, Jason "Gonzales" Charles Beck) – 3:48
4. "The Park" – 4:34
5. "The Water" (Feist, Brendan Canning) – 4:46
6. "Sealion" (Feist, George Bass, Nina Simone) – 3:39
7. "Past in Present" – 2:54
8. "The Limit to Your Love" (Feist, Jason "Gonzales" Charles Beck) – 4:21
9. "1234" (Sally Seltmann, Feist) – 3:03
10. "Brandy Alexander" (Feist, Ron Sexsmith) – 3:36
11. "Intuition" – 4:36
12. "Honey Honey" – 3:27
13. "How My Heart Behaves" – 4:26

"Sealion" contains elements from 'Sea Lion Woman' by George Bass and Nina Simone.

UK bonus track

14. "Honey Honey" (Live at Toronto's Danforth Music Hall) – 4:37

Japanese bonus tracks

14. "Intuition" (Live at Toronto's Danforth Music Hall)  – 6:14
15. "My Moon My Man" (Video) - 3.41
16. "1234" (Video) - 3.14

iTunes bonus tracks

The following tracks were not on the CD or 12" vinyl formats, but were available for download from iTunes only with the purchase of the album from the iTunes Store or Starbucks.

14. "Sealion" (Feist, Bass, Simone) (Chromeo remix) – 3:45
15. "The Water" (Red demos)  – 4:13

Best Buy bonus tracks

The following tracks were available as bonus downloads via a code included with initial copies of "The Reminder" in US Best Buy stores. The live versions of Intuition and Honey Honey are the same versions as those found as bonus tracks on the UK and Japanese CDs.

1. "Honey Honey (Live W/Fade Out)" - 4:34
2. "Intuition (Live W/Fade Out)" - 6:14
3. "Fighting Away The Tears (w/ Mocky)" - 3:17

Deluxe Edition 2nd disc bonus tracks

1. "I Feel It All (Escort Remix)"
2. "Sealion (Chromeo Remix)"
3. "My Moon My Man (Boys Noize Classic Mix)"
4. "1234 (Van She Remix)"
5. "Fightin' Away the Tears [with Mocky]"
6. "So Sorry (One Mic Mix)"
7. "My Moon My Man (Grizzly Bear Remix)"
8. "Broken Social Scene: "Lover's Spit (Redux)""
9. "Islands in the Stream (with The Constantines)"
10. "My Moon My Man [video]"
11. "1234 (Director's Cut) [video]"
12. "I Feel It All [video]"
13. "Honey Honey [video]"

Singles

Physical Singles

• "My Moon My Man"
• "1234"
• "I Feel It All"

Digital Downloads

• "My Moon My Man"
• "1234"
• "I Feel It All"
• "Sea Lion Woman"

Non-Physical Singles

• "Honey Honey"

Charts and certifications

Year-end charts

Personnel

• Feist – acoustic and electric guitars, banjo, vocals, piano on "The Water"
• Gonzales – piano, organs, vibraphone, drums
• Jesse Baird – drums
• Mocky – acoustic bass, farfisa, organ
• Bryden Baird – trumpet, flugelhorn, percussion
• Julian Brown – electric bass, melodica
• Jamie Lidell – energy arrangement, vocals
• Town Hall (Jamie Lidell, Julian Brown, Bryden Baird, Mocky, Jesse Bard, Gonzales and Feist)  – group percussion and backup vocals

Guests

• Eirik Glambek Bøe – singing on "How My Heart Behaves"
• Afie Jurvanen – leader of the lead guitars on the bridge of "Sea Lion Woman"
• Kevin Drew – backup singing on "Honey Honey"
• Brendan Canning – backup singing on "Honey Honey"
• Pierre Luc Jamain – organ bass on "Honey Honey"
• Ben Mink – strings and rhythm acoustic guitar on "1234"
• Ohad Benchetrit – the Mystery on the bridge of "My Moon My Man"
• Charles Spearin – the Mystery on the bridge of "My Moon My Man"
• Lori Gemmel – harp
• Sandra Baron – violin
• Mary Stein – cello

References