Cat Power: Chan Marshall (vocals, guitar, piano).

Additional personnel: Mick Turner (guitar); Belinda Woods (flute); Andrew Entsch (bass); Jim White (drums).

Principally recorded at Sing Sing Studios, Melbourne, Australia in January 1998.

Personnel: Chan Marshall (vocals, guitar, piano); Mick Turner (guitar); Belinda Woods (flute); Jim White (drums).

Recording information: Scuzz Studios (01/1998); Sing sing Studios, Melbourne, Australia (01/1998); VPRO, Radio 5 "De Avonden" (01/1998).

Photographer: Roe Ethridge.

Unknown Contributor Roles: Mark Ohe; Frank Longo.

Cat Power's 1998 album Moon Pix continues Chan Marshall's transformation from an indie rock Cassandra into a reflective, accomplished singer/songwriter. Where her previous works were an urgent, aching mix of punk, folk, and blues, Moon Pix is truly soul(ful) music: warm, reflective, complex, and cohesive. For this album, Marshall moved the recording sessions for the album to Australia, and switched her rhythm section to the Dirty Three's Mick Turner and Jim White; the lineup changes add new depth and light to her compelling, intricate guitar work and gently insistent vocals. From the backwards drum loop on "American Flag" (borrowed from the Beastie Boys' "Paul Revere") to the fluttering, smoky flutes on "He Turns Down" to the double-tracked vocals and crashing thunderstorms of "Say," Moon Pix's expressive arrangements mirror the songs' fine emotional shadings. Marshall is sunny on the quietly hopeful "You May Know Him," hypnotic and seductive on "Cross Bones Style," and poignant on "Colors & the Kids," where she sings, "It's so hard to go into the city/Because you want to say hi, hello, I love you to everybody." As natural and refined as a pearl, Moon Pix is a collection of fragile yet strong songs that reveal Marshall's unique, personal songwriting talents in their full glory. ~ Heather Phares

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 through songs 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" recalls the 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.

CMJ (2/11/99, p.9) - "...MOON PIX's subtly intense heart-breaking beauty made 1998 [singer/songwriter Chan] Marshall's year, and if her dry shiver of a voice made you uncomfortable at times, it's only because it made her uncomfortable, too..."