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Cat Power Unleashes ‘Ruin’ From First Original LP in 6 Years

Cat Power / Photo by Austin Conroy

Chan Marshall’s voice hasn’t lost any of its smoky allure. The singer-songwriter has announced her first album of original material in six years, Sun, and offered up third track “Ruin,” a propulsive, piano-based rocker that leaves behind the Memphis soul of 2006’s The Greatest for something a bit more fidgety, though no less combustible.

Marshall murmurs the names of far-flung geographical locations atop a tautly interlocking groove, imploring, “What are we doin’ / We’re sittin’ on a ruin.” Although Marshall has premiered other new songs live, and redid her 1996 track “When the Kid Rides By” late last year, those were mostly somber, spare affairs. “Ruin” is a hard-charger that leaves Marshall plenty of room to go just about any direction on her upcoming album.

Produced by Marshall and mixed by Philippe Zdar, one half of the French electro-pop duo Cassius, Sun arrives on September 4 via Matador. Marshall recorded the album in various spots, including a self-built studio in Malibu. You can download “Ruin” from Matador’s blog, or watch it set to mysterious spray-painted images below, courtesy of video director Austin Conroy (the video resolves into what appears to be Sun‘s stark, rainbow-haunted cover art).

Sun also be available in a limited vinyl edition, and fans who preorder from iTunes (starting this evening) get access to exclusive bonus tracks starting at midnight or 1 a.m. local time tonight.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=_nl3Oo4-IQ4%3Ffeature%3Dplayer_embedded

Ruin track list:

  1. “Cherokee”
  2. “Sun”
  3. “Ruin”
  4. “3,6,9”
  5. “Always On My Own”
  6. “Real Life”
  7. “Human Being”
  8. “Manhattan”
  9. “Silent Machine”
  10. “Nothin But Time”
  11. “Peace And Love”