Wander Woman

Cat Powers plaintive, emotionally lacerating songwriting makes a return on her first record in six years. She chats with EW about her new LP Wanderer, her ideas of femininity, and the art of covering Rihanna.

- Ilana Kaplan

CHAN MARSHALL HAS A TALE FOR everything. The 46-year-old artist, better known as singer-songwriter Cat Power, tells anecdotes with such meticulous detail that you feel like you’re a part of her story—a trait that has made her one of the most remarkable indie-rock voices of the past 20 years. She brings the same narrative depth to Wanderer, her 10th studio album and first since 2012.

“I wanted to create something that was minimal in balance but would remind me that each song is not a message but a totem,” says Marshall. On her previous effort, Sun, she faced industry pressure to appeal to a wider audience. But instead of acquiescing, Marshall left Matador, the label she had called home since 1996, and began plotting a new course. During that time, she also discovered she was pregnant; for seven months she remained on the road, until deciding to rent a home in Miami where she could record and have her child.