In Case You Missed It: Cat Power- Speaking For Trees

Growing up, I came to understand that there would be certain types of women I would always get crushes on. Maybe the term 'archetype' is more correct. Anyway, one of these was the "sad, quiet, and probably crazy girl." This archetype is as much a part of me projecting unto someone as it is their inherent qualities. At the same time, I somehow discovered Cat Power's music, and ever since then, I've always thought of Chan Marshall as the mother of all these sad little girls I would be doomed to be misguidedly attracted to.
After a handful of albums that filled out the borderlands of sadness, isolation, romantic pining, and cynicism, Cat Power's original "persona" seemed to reach perfection with The Covers Record and take another turn with You Are Free, a much poppier and livelier affair. By the time of The Greatest, Chan Marshall had mostly given up drinking, had started to finish live shows instead of nervously leaving in the middle, had begun to model (?!)...it was like watching the fragile, skinny art student I had a crush on turn into a prom queen. The absolute worst part, though, was that her music started to become awful. The Greatest is probably a great album if you never listened to Cat Power before, all its country/soul/R&B posing a sickeningly inauthentic gleam that let me know she was no longer "for" me. This was confirmed further when I saw her perform at the 2007 Pitchfork Music Festival, with her slick session musician band that included her dressing in ridiculous late 80s apparel (complete with fingerless gloves) and a pianist chick who chainsmoked cigarettes and so badly wanted to look cool.
So, then, Speaking For Trees marks the last time the old Cat Power was seen. In some ways, it's a perfect funeral for her old self: a two hour performance piece set in rural New York, during which she plays a series of songs in a halting, awkward manner. I find it equally spellbinding and boring, but in the end, it's as I said: the perfect funeral for her old self. It just seems like the kind of thing the mother of all "sad, quiet, and probably crazy girls" would do.
The film switches locations a few times, and the director arbitrarily messes with filters and settings to make it appear darker toward the end of the film, but there isn't much to say other than "it's static shots of Cat Power performing songs with nothing but an electric guitar, an unseen amp, and her voice." Ambience and nature sounds creep in. Between songs she stretches, itches, pushes up her sleeves, fiddles with her guitar, etc.
A lot of the time she spends facing away from the camera. Not that you can see her face that well from such distance and with bangs covering her face. Oh, Chan, you bewitching minx. How did you know I liked that?!
And then, all is as darkness. I didn't even try to listen to her new record because as I said, she's no longer for me. Goodnight and good luck, Cat Power. I'll always remember you.