Strange Mercy
After two previous releases, St. Vincent (a.k.a. Annie Clark) finds a way to channel her avant-garde instincts in more accessible directions, displaying a firm grasp on pop songwriting forms even as she subverts them. In tandem with producer John Congleton, she plays nervous industrial beats and quivering keyboards against billowing ‘60s-ish melodies. Her cooing vocals on “Cruel” and “Surgeon” insinuate dark scenarios of betrayal and abandonment, transcending mere irony into something palpably sinister. More direct in their intentions are “Cheerleader” (an anthem of personal liberation) and “Champagne Year” (a jaundiced look at success). If Clark’s lyrics tease and dazzle, her music hits hard sonically, clattering to a galloping groove on “Hysterical Strength” and erupting into guitar-fueled cacophony on “Northern Lights.” The otherworldly grandeur of Kate Bush or Björk is recalled on tracks like “Chloe In the Afternoon.” But St. Vincent is in a class all her own as she exorcises sexual demons, grapples with psychic breakdown, and achieves an uncanny catharsis.
On Strange Mercy, Annie Clark ditches Marry Me's naivety and Actor's ostentatious arrangements, boosts the inventive guitar playing, and ends up with her most potent and cathartic release yet.
The internal struggle within Annie Clark’s work as St. Vincent has always been beauty vs. beast. On her sophomore effort, Actor, that was embodied by the digital smears and orchestral eeriness from producer John Congleton, as much as the roar of Clark’s guitar. Congleton returns for St. Vincent’s third LP, Strange…
I’ll never forget the first time I listened to St. Vincent (the stage name of soon-to-be 29-year-old Annie Clark). I’d…
As clever and insightful as Annie Clark's first two St. Vincent albums were, she sometimes seemed slightly removed, and perhaps somewhat above, her songs’ subjects.
It must be difficult for a songwriter who possesses great wit, extraordinary performance skills, and an ear for complex arrangements to not want to show off now and again, and St. Vincent’s Annie Clark wasn’t immune from flexing her skills on her firs
The sanctified Annie Clark’s third album builds on the 2009’s baroque masterpiece ‘Actor’.
With a knack for a memorable melody and a winning voice, Texan Annie Clark's third album impresses <strong>Molloy Woodcraft </strong>
When Annie Clark’s blank mask falls, the glimpse at the face underneath is brief and cryptic.
<p><strong>Rebecca Nicholson</strong> is knocked out by the swooning sensuality of St Vincent</p>