Called “a kaleidoscope look into the heart of The Reminder,” Leslie Feist’s album is
encapsulated and expanded upon in the film “Look at What the Light Did Now.” The
film will be screened in many locations worldwide starting tomorrow; released
in stores Dec 6. Directed by Anthony Seck, it is named for a song written by
Little Wings, which the two perform during the end credits–guitars in hand, a
single peacock feather stuck enigmatically in each artist’s hair. Canadian
singer Feist bears four Grammy nominations, eight Juno Awards and a reputation
for adventure by those who know her. Who knew that the stunt in the video for
Mushaboom, where she jumps out of a 40 story window, was done without a net?
Perhaps Feist herself has the “wild card inside” she speaks so much of in “I
Feel it All.”

The focus on light and spontaneous creativity displayed in
Feist’s shows, music videos and recording sessions makes her work perfect for a
visual compilation such as “Look at What the Light Did Now.” When asked to
describe her album, which has sold 1.5 million copies to date, in one word, she
craftily replied “audible.” Later, she explains that her task in both the film
and her performances is to “make visible what is audible.” 

Feist’s preferred photographer, Mary Rozzi, commented “[Feist]
is still uncomfortable in front of the camera–but I’m still trying to find out
why,” attempting to describe her bemusement at the mysteries being the
musician. Yet, it is curious that Rozzi
herself and others in the montage seem more nervous than Feist’s interview,
where she appears barefoot sitting on a log. But maybe Rozzi refers to the timid
side of Feist that, after striding about confidently amid a sea of color-block
clad dancers, finds herself alone onstage and gives a small, humble bow at the
end of the video for “1234.”

A primary thematic statement of Feist’s was that “every
human being on earth has a relationship to their shadow.” This idea plays out
grandly throughout the film, which takes record of many experiments with
electronic and natural light, as well as darkness and contrasts. The direction
of “Look at What the Light Did Now” is distinctly beautiful; as if Feist and
the directional crew extracted every remote, abstract idea of beauty from their
collective lives and focused the intensity of that beauty through one lens. And
yet it isn’t vanity that motivated such a film. In fact, Feist’s humbleness
proved an obstacle when she refused to be pictured on the album cover of The Reminder. But, of the myriad of
designs created for the cover, the chosen image is the sophisticated silhouette
head-and-shoulders of Feist, with a crisscrossing vortex of colored threads
behind.

While that instance called for perfection, what is magical
about the film lies in the improvisation and happenstance they constantly
encountered. There was a house-turned-studio, “Le Frette,” that Feist and the
other band members worked, dreamed, played and recorded in. Feist described how
it was important to have an idea of a certain place in order to make inspired
music, that didn’t just have a beginning, middle and end.

Viewers of “Look at What the Light Did Now” can witness her
walking and singing seemingly aimlessly about the house, only to walk into a
recording session minutes later, without skipping a beat, to begin singing “My
Moon, My Man.” You see her musicians work together to make up a clapping
pattern for “Sea Lion Woman,” and what Feist called “accidental percussion” of
swirling nuts in a bowl by hand, or gently crunching leaves. It can be seen
that each member of the project listened to each other, and was able to “react,
be sensitive, hear; like having a conversation.” It’s interesting how the team
chose to record “The Park” outdoors, as it can still be heard on the album.
Band member Bryden Baird recalled how it was so cold the instruments were going
out of tune. He also remarked that for “The Water” they did 27 takes, yet still
picked the first one for the “first take feel.”

Seeing the music you love made visual, transparent to the
creativity and control of musical sound, with reality, heart and spontaneity that went into making it,
is enough to give anyone chills. A friend of Feist’s who eventually became a
member of the crew, Simone Rubi, might have captured the artist, and the film,
best. Rubi described how Leslie can make great things like mountains and
seasons seem so relatable, and that it is something small like an apology or
“waking up with your hair in a knot” that are the really significant things in
life.