Watch Feist Perform an Impromptu Duet With an Electrical Buzzing Sound for "Ballad of the Sad Dressing Room"

She found an unlikely singing partner in the Stanford Memorial Auditorium's basement dressing room

BY Kaelen BellPublished May 6, 2022

When Exclaim! chatted with Feist last year about her Multitudes performances, she spoke a lot about the power of spontaneity and improvisation. This week, she took that energy to heart during a Multitudes stop in California, performing an impromptu duet with a crazy-making electrical buzzing in her basement dressing room. 

In a video posted to her Instagram account, Feist sits on a counter in the basement of the Stanford Memorial Auditorium and sings what we're unofficially calling "Ballad of the Sad Dressing Room," a lovely little self-reflexive dirge that explains the story of this twitch-inducing, single-note drone. 

"Imagine working in this space with this note at all times, telling you that you're in a basement of a historic theatre but this is the backdrop to your life — this note that you have to integrate your thoughts around," she sings, managing to make something genuinely beautiful from an annoying happenstance. 

"Oh, the note of the sad dressing room, electricity collaborating with your state of mind," she continues, before closing things out with an impressively long-held note. 

Maybe we should all take a cue from Feist and try making the best of life's little irritants — start collaborating with your banging pipes and buzzing light fixtures! 

Feist's last record was 2017's Pleasure, but it's sounding like we can expect something new from the songwriter in the (hopefully) near future. Later this year, she'll be heading out on a European tour with Arcade Fire.

Check out the video below. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A post shared by feist (@feistmusic)

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