At Feist’s December 1 show at Massey Hall, don’t expect the gorgeously understated shadow puppetry and projections that Clea Minaker provided for the Reminder tour (lovingly documented in the film Look At What The Light Did Now). But she’s well aware of how important it will be to come up with something equally impressive to complement her new, critically acclaimed album, Metals (Arts & Crafts).
“I’m still zeroing in on what I think it should be,” Feist cautiously explains. “As soon as I started playing soft-seat theatres, I realized I needed to be a little more aware of what was happening on a visual level. We’re building something that we’re going to have to live in for the next year. While I don’t exactly know what it’s going to be, it’s not something I can ignore any more.”
What she can pin down is that she’d like the visuals to reflect the album’s themes of technology and nature, and convey a sense of nostalgia, but those are pretty wide parameters. No matter what she comes up with, though, she’s one of the few musicians who can make big rooms feel cozy and intimate, and the new material seems especially suited to live performance and reinterpretation.