You Are Free is the sixth studio album by Cat Power, the stage name and eponymous band of the American singer-songwriter Chan Marshall. It was released in 2003 on Matador Records. The album features guest appearances by Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters, Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam and Warren Ellis of the Dirty Three.
Recording
You Are Free was recorded over the course of a year, the longest Marshall had spent recording an album at that point. Marshall and engineer Adam Kasper recorded about 40 songs during these sessions.
In a 2003 interview with Pitchfork, Marshall explained the album was recorded "Sporadically. While I was traveling...Adam was working on other things, and I worked on his schedule. He'd get these really nice studios, and when he had off time we'd go in and then try to remember what we did like two months ago and pull that tape up. I'd be like, 'Uh, no, I wanna do something new,' and then I'd write a new song. So it basically worked like that-- every few months getting together and essentially writing new songs." According to Marshall, Kasper helped her decide which of the 40 songs they recorded should make it onto the album.
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| rev3 = Entertainment Weekly
| rev3Score = B+
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| rev5 = NME
| rev5score = 9/10
| rev6 = Pitchfork
| rev6score = 8.9/10
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| rev9score = 8/10
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You Are Free, Marshall's first album of original material since the critically acclaimed Moon Pix (1998), has received widespread critical acclaim since its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 82, based on 26 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim".
"Werewolf" is on the soundtrack of Pedro Almodóvar's 2009 film Broken Embraces.
Commercial performance
You Are Free became Cat Power's first album to chart on the Billboard 200, reaching number 105. As of 2007, You Are Free has sold over 163,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The song "He War" was released as a single, and a music video for the song directed by Brett Vapnek was released.
Track listing
Personnel
- Chan Marshall – vocals, guitars, piano
- Warren Ellis – violin on "Good Woman"
- Dave Grohl – bass on "Speak For Me", drums on "Speak For Me", "He War" and "Shaking Paper"
- Eddie Vedder – vocals on "Good Woman" and "Evolution"
- David Campbell – string arrangement on "Good Woman" and "Werewolf"
- Maggie & Emma – vocals on "Good Woman"
;Technical
- Adam Kasper – recording, mixing
- Rick Fisher – mastering
- Mark Borthwick – photography
Charts
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!scope="col"|Chart (2003)
!scope="col"|Peak<br>position
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! scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)
| align="center"| 71
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