Feist & Timbre Timbre Homage

Duets sometimes make me think of elementary school music class, with half the room slated to sing one line, half told to respond to the song's call. Not a bad musical approach, but it's often used as a clumsy mechanism to get two good artists together to make one... okay track.

Not so with "Homage," a collaboration between Feist and Timbre Timbre. The track is the newest release from Arts & Crafts X, a collaborative project from the Canadian label that features efforts from artists such as Broken Social Scene, Chilly Gonzalez, and Stars.

Compared to many of the others released, "Homage" is a stripped down effort, highlighting the striking vocals of Taylor Kirk (of Timbre Timbre) and Leslie Feist. Kirk, with his rumbling, guttural tones is an incredible match for Feist's rich, warbling vibrato - their voices shine on their own, and weave together to form the gorgeous foundation of a folk song for the ages.

At first, the two are accompanied by the trills of lone guitar. But in the song's final minute, "Homage" is inflated from a lovely folk ditty to a big-sound epic, helped by the swelling thrum of additional string lines and an insistent drum beat. What's lasting, though, is the comedown -- the track ends with twin vocals, twin guitars, and the pounding of two feet stomping to the beat.