St. Vincent: Strange Mercy

St. Vincent
Strange Mercy
Rating: Woof Daddy

Diminutive, angelic looking singer Annie Clark, performing under the name St. Vincent, has released two albums of slightly subversive pop songs, Marry Me and Actor, which traffic in deceptively calm surfaces, with a dark undercurrent that is always surprising and thrilling. With the release of her third album Strange Mercy, Clark completely comes into her own. While her previous albums are quite wonderful, Marry Me could feel a little cloying at times, and Actor was almost too stuffed to the gills with embellishments that cluttered rather than enhanced the tracks. With Strange Mercy, Clark laser focuses the songs, highlighting her superb, innovative guitar playing, allowing only a few embellishments throughout, which actually add to the texture and or tone of the song to give it an extra kick. Clark still sticks to her trademark song writing style, singing tales of squeaky clean perfection always hiding dirt and grime in the background despite the characters' desperate attempts to keep up appearances. Clark has a way of slipping in subtle imagery that can change the tone of a song instantly. Lead track "Chloe In The Afternoon," slightly based on the Eric Rohmer film of the same name, takes the tale of a daily afternoon assignation between lovers and slowly moves it into S&M territory with mentions of horse hair whips and working out her hurt, the guitars getting more and more heated and ragged as the events unfold.



First single, and probably Clark's most directly "pop" song ever, "Cruel," musically sounds like something out of a Disney movie, but the lyrics describe how women are supposed to conform to a certain standard in society, and the narrator attempts to rebel against such standards, realizing that it would be so much easier to do what others except of her. This dichotomy is perfectly expressed in the video for the song.



The sad, haunting title track unfolds slowly, beginning at first like a lullaby to a child who misses her absent father, revealing later that the father in fact is in prison, and the song turns dark and ugly with scraping guitars and vengeful lyrics like "If I ever meet the dirty policeman who roughed you up, no, I don't know what."



Previously, where Clark kept the focus of her songs on a more general level, now she allows us more inside her own thoughts, making Strange Mercy her most personal album yet. "Champagne Year," which is supposed to be a celebratory year, finds Clark in a confused place in her life "it's not a perfect plan, but it's the one we've got, I make a living telling people what they wanna hear, but I tell ya, it's going to be a champagne year."



And with "The Cheerleader," Clark appears to acknowledge that she didn't always trust her songwriting instincts, realizing "I've played dumb, when I knew better, tried too hard, to be clever."



Clark further moves her music into a more meatier sound. She is not afraid on this album to get messy and ugly, letting her tracks lose some of the rigid fussiness of her other recordings. "Northern Lights" features acidic guitar riffs, that build into a furious rage.



"Surgeon" features a rave-up synth solo that is striking in its peculiarity.



"Dilettante" throws in lots of antagonistic guitar and organ skronks that keep the listener on edge in this art-rock damaged track.



"Hysterical Strength" lives up to its title, beginning tightly coiled then unleashing a furious coda of fuzzed out guitars.



And she also veers into social/economic commentary with the biting, cynical "Year of the Tiger;" Clark assuming the role of a Wall Street shark, living the high life in Italian shoes and expensive cars while shirking financial responsibility with lines like "Oh America, can I owe you one?"



Strange Mercy finds Clark in perfect control of her musical direction. No longer are there the doubts or flights of fancy. These controlled tracks are blazing with originality and wit, and are further proof that Clark is at the top of her game, and also reaching the top echelon of the indie music scene with this, one of the best albums of the year.

Rating Guide

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and peaks one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.