Cat Power happy to exist on a different plane

Cat Power's fragile introspective folk songs have won her a strong following in the States.

There's a few rules on planes. Not undoing your seat belt until the plane has stopped at the terminal is generally obeyed. Not turning your cellphone on until the cabin door is open is a rule that's easily ignored.

Chan (pronounced Shawn) Marshall - aka Cat Power - is still strapped in but she's flouting that second rule as we speak. She's just landed at Los Angeles airport.
"Hi, good, I just landed. This guy's talking really loud. He'll be quiet soon," is the first thing she giggles.

The American Airlines host continues his thank yous to passengers in the background: "Phew, sorry," whispers Marshall, cutely.

Whether she's meant to have her phone on or not, one suspects Marshall doesn't care. She's a law unto herself and her live shows are notoriously unpredictable.

Since releasing her debut album in 1995, Marshall has become one of the best kept secrets of the American underground with her fragile introspective folk songs.

But the sweetness that goes with all this is adorable. She is strange. Flaky even. Often she doesn't finish her sentences and when she's reluctant to talk about something she says nothing. But she's never rude.

When asked about her latest release, Speaking For Trees - a film of her performing in the countryside by experimental film-maker, and friend, Mark Borthwick - she is hesitant.

"Is that what this interview is about? Because I don't know what I could say about [Speaking For Trees]," she laughs.

Why not?

"I didn't even know it would be released [in New Zealand]."

With this the plane intercom starts up again: "We're going to have to sit here folks and they're going to tow us in."

Marshall continues: "An artist friend of mine wanted to do a project and film me, and I did it and then later the idea came out of releasing it and I agreed. But I never thought anybody ... I thought it would just be seen in a few galleries in the world. I didn't think it would be released, or seen as much, so I was just doing whatever I was doing at that time."

During the nearly two-hour performance she walks in and out of shot, coos to the woods behind her, and pushes her T-shirt sleeves up to form a singlet. There is no sign of amplifiers and microphones, just her and her electric guitar meandering through a collection of random songs. You can't even see her face because the camera is too far away.

"That's what he kept telling me when we talked about releasing it. So I was happy," she laughs.

"I just thought it was some art piece for my friend. I think he wanted to capture the action ... I don't know what the hell he wanted. I don't look at it as a performance," she concludes.

The DVD package comes with a CD containing the 18-minute long track, Willie Deadwilder, which gently unravels, virtually into nothing.

"I'd just woken up," she explains, referring to when she recorded the song. "I was asleep, it's like I'm yawning in the beginning, and it just goes on and on and on. It's a long song."

Speaking For Trees was made before she recorded her last album, You Are Free, which was released in February 2003. She started touring - mostly solo - before that album and didn't stop for two years, and it took its toll. So she fled her New York base and has spent the first part of the American winter in Miami with her best friend from high school. Just after finishing school the pair fell out over a boy - he was Marshall's first love - and they only made up seven years ago. Neither won the boy.

She's been working on a new album in various places including Barcelona, Atlanta, New York and is using the stint in Miami to write more songs.

"But really I'm just trying to take care of my health. I think I was just on tour for two years and it took this time to relax and get off the anti-depressants.

"I've hermitted really well down there. I know my best friend from high school and her daughter and they are the only people I talk to except for the Cuban guys at the deli'. It's what I needed."

She bids me farewell happily. She says she doesn't know what's happening after the gig on Sunday night but she hopes to meet in person.

She's still sitting in the plane on the tarmac.

Performance

* What: Cat Power, real name Chan Marshall

* When and where: Sunday, Feb 13, Maidment Theatre, Auckland; Monday, Feb 14, Paramount Theatre, Wellington.

* Key albums: You Are Free (2003), Moon Pix (1998)

* Latest release: Speaking For Trees: A film by Mark Borthwick (includes two-hour film, three nature films and one 18-minute Cat Power track).