St. Vincent
Strange Mercy
4AD Records
Release Date: 09.13.11
Rating: 8.0
Annie Clark, better known under her moniker of St. Vincent, released her third full length album this September. Packed with her unorthodox and unique brand of vibrant indie rock, cabaret jazz and electro-fused ballads, the album is aptly named Strange Mercy.
Clark is primarily a guitarist. An aggressive guitarist. A bold, vicious guitarist, and her chunky distortion-filled guitar arrangements are the engines that drive the songs on Strange Mercy. Sprinkled throughout are riveting feedback inputs, unexpected electro spikes and surgically placed tonal noise. It's like a guitar distortion sundae with LED lights on top and even as such a sonic delicacy, the album stay accessible.
Behind each gritty guitar riff are Clark's signature eeirie vocals. Coded, crypic lyrics come as poetic paraphrases. The song "Surgeon" invites "Best, fine surgeon/ Come cut me open." This serves as a nod to Marilyn Monroe--the line was found in her journal. Other songs like "Chloe in the Afternoon" allude to fighting with the crutch of promiscuity, while the title track explore the wonderment of unexpected grace.
A drawback to this album is the apparent lack of any real standout tracks. Most songs sound as co-stars to an absent shining star. As such a lead character is missing, I have to say on the first spin, the album didn't grab me.
The inexplicable pull for Strange Mercy is the depth and weight of what is being conveyed and the novelty of musical combinations that Clark is attempting. These aren't pop songs, they are pages from Clark's diary that highlight emotions of frustration, lost innocent and atonement that all of us go through on some level. The electro-noise infustions make this new music, not a recycle of something we continue to hear as radio fodder.
