Track Listing

1. American Flag
2. He Turns Down
3. No Sense
4. Say
5. Metal Heart
6. Back Of Your Head
7. Moonshine
8. You May Know Him
9. Colors And The Kids
10. Cross Bones Style
11. Peking Saint

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35376 in Music
• Released on: 1998-09-21
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
Singer Chan Marshall takes intimacy to a new level with the eerily lovely song cycle of Moon Pix. The narrative revolves around a nightmare figure who beckons towards a location that sounds rather like hell. The starkness of this ghost story is mirrored in the austerity of the atmospheric music. Joined by Jim White and Mick Turner of the Australian slow-rock band the Dirty Three, Marshall uses spare guitar, flute and piano arrangements to create the sounds of the last singer left on a post-apocalyptic landscape. As Marshall sings in "Say", "If you're looking for something easy, you might as well give it up". That lyric is the best description of this difficult and brilliant album. --Lois Maffeo

CD Description
Somewhere between the narcotic stillness of Mazzy Star and the quiet desperation of Lisa Germano, Cat Power's MOON PIX is a compelling, often powerful album of mostly-acoustic songs delivered in Chan (pronounced "Shawn") Marshall's clear, measured voice. Restraint is key here, although troubling images and a distinct undercurrent of unease percolate throughsongs like the hypnotic "Cross Bones Style".
Elsewhere,the surprising "American Flag" adds a new but not inappropriate trip-hop vibe, and the delicate "He Turns Down" recallsthe best work of early-'70s neo-folkies like Judee Sill or Linda Perhacs, complete with trilling, jazz-inflected flute.However it's the almost stark quietude of "Say", with its perfectly appropriate thunderstorm effects rumbling in the distance, which best sums up the small epiphanies of this often beautiful album.

Customer Reviews

One of the greatest talents in music
Whenever someone asks me who my favourite singer(s) is/are the first one that always comes into my mind is Chan Marshall. Cat Power is Chan and whatever musicians she happens to be working with at the time and a lot of the time its just her on her own. Its hard to describe just how her voice can affect you, how intense and spellbinding it is. The first song I heard of hers was Cross Bones Style and my first impressions were a kind of Sinead O'Connor/Beth Orton vibe but theres more to her than that. Her voice swoops up when you least expect it and at times can be downright eerie (like when she starts hollering "We're already in hell" on the tremendous Moonshiner). It has the power to freeze time and pin you to your seat like no one else I've heard. It's heartbreaking and sexy, sad and joyous all at once. It's like she's stabbing you in the heart and kissing your neck while whispering beautiful sad stories in your ear.

After I heard Cross Bones Style I heard the song Metal Heart on the 'net and that was it. I knew I HAD to buy this album, and I was not disappointed. It takes a while to fully appreciate Moon Pix as it is quite hard going. The songs have no choruses as such, they are very free form and just kind of evolve as they go along. Some stand out more than others and the ones with the Dirty Three playing back up with her are just amazing. It sounds like music made in some kind of trance, hypnotising and gorgeous. She uses a nice technique of double tracking her voice for backing vocals on some songs as well which sounds beautiful.

Although she has since gone on to be more popular and dare I say commercial(?) with albums like You Are Free and The Greatest I find it hard to see her ever topping this. This will always have a special place in my heart as this was the album that seduced me and led me to proclaim her the greatest solo artist alive and one of the most stunning talents in music full stop. OK so I may have got a little carried away with the "greatest alive" statement but I still count this album as one of my absolute favourites and, just give this bewitching album time and you too will fall for its otherworldly charms.

the pleasure in melencholy
It's late in the day when i hear a record of such a high quality. Chen marshall's delicate voice is juxtaposed perfectly with laid back guitar strummings. One of the best albums i have ever had the pleasure of hearing. The best kept secret in the current music scene.

Emotional, Sparse & Haunting
Moon Pix is a brave CD - in every song Chan Marshall's voice is accompanied by extremely sparse arrangements. It's less commercial than albums that she has released since, and so would appeal to a narrower audience; however personally I think it's the greatest work of hers that I've so far heard. I found it difficult to appreciate at the first listen or two, but I persevered and soon found that I had fallen in love with Chan Marshall's spellbinding voice. I'm not going to single out any particular songs, because I feel that this album in its entirity is a masterpiece. If you're after haunting, emotional music, you can't go far wrong buying Moon Pix. It deserves a place in every CD collection.