St. Vincent Strange Mercy (4AD)
4/5
By: Rachel Bolland
One thing that St. Vincent, aka Annie Clark, has always been incredibly good at is painting pictures with her music. Each of her songs seems to possess its own personality, and the instrumental often wonderfully compliments the lyrics. On her 2007 debut, Marry Me, the song ‘Paris Is Burning’ closes with a kind of frenetic crescendo, ever building in speed with the repeated lyrics “Drown poor people dance and drown/Dance fair Paris to the ground”. It’s things like this that have gained St. Vincent such critical acclaim, both for Marry Me and its successor two years later, Actor.
Her new record, Strange Mercy, continues this trend. It’s a record full of wonderful contrasts and surprises that doesn’t compromise any of Clark’s trademark quality control. Opener ‘Chloe In The Afternoon’ instantly asserts that Strange Mercy is going to be somewhat unpredictable, with the soft vocals being accompanied by bursts of distorted, heavy guitar. It’s a sign of things to come, with no two tracks on the record sounding alike.
‘Northern Lights’ appears to be one of the most pop-like moments on the record with Clark’s vocal initially backed by a simple drum beat, but half way through, strings and heavy guitars are introduced to change the track into an epic mess of distortion by the end with the refrain “I saw the northern, northern lights/Convinced it was the end of time”. This is directly followed by the record’s title track which bears almost no resemblance to its predecessor, the vocal taking centre stage in an almost dreamy ballad, incredibly strong and soulful.
While ‘Champagne Year’ is in the same vein as ‘Strange Mercy’, only in so much as it’s a quieter moment, it’s executed in a completely different way. Again, it’s Clark’s vocals that are the focal point, remaining almost completely a capella for over half the track, sung in a way that could almost be described as sensual, a great amount of care going in to each syllable with a deceptively simple melody. When she’s joined by the guitars and distorted synths it’s done to compliment, not overshadow her voice. The rise in her vocals at the end of the line “I make a living telling people what they want to hear” sends a shiver down the spine in a way that few songs can achieve, and, like ‘Paris Is Burning,’ the desperation of the lyrics is mirrored beautifully in the music and the delivery. It’s the perfect balance that sparks reactions like these and the fact that it contrasts so beautifully with the heavy noise of songs like ‘Chloe in the Afternoon’.
Even within the songs themselves there are abrupt changes, which are unexpected but for some reason completely welcome. ‘Cheerleader’ starts off almost an almost ethereal way but soon transforms in to something much darker. Its changes like these that help this record feel fresh throughout. It is perhaps remarkable that Clark has managed to produce a record that’s so varied but fits together so well as a whole. It is, perhaps, the mark of a truly talented musician.
"Cruel" by St. Vincent by Kisses & Noise
Artists in this article: St. Vincent
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