Annie Clark, better known as St.Vincent, has whispered her way back into our hearts with her latest basket of sound, Actor. Delivering words of hopeful wisdom and recounting bouts of immaturity swaddled in wistful indie ensembles, the twenty something Tulsa native turned Brooklynite has created an urban cookie for the world’s youthful soul. The album’s opening number attacks you with the duality of lo-fi pixie stroked happiness and the immature frivolous vengeance of the words, “I threw flowers in your face, On my sister’s wedding day”, while the album’s fourth chapter, Actor Out Of Work, is a more straight forward indie rock piece sporting a fuzzed out 90’s dance synth accompaniment during the existing semblance of a chorus. St. Vincent makes wonderful use of dream like soundscapes acting as the groundwork for a legitimate out pour of lyrical emotion… most of the time… the remainder of the time the record is just fun. With a formula as simple as toast and catchier than an STD in a whorehouse, it’s the album of 2009 that you may feel guilty for bobbing your head to. As the album plays, images of Apple commercials and scenes from Michael Cera movies flash through your head, while poppy little ditties swoon through the speakers. Laced with undertones of frustration and bitterness, lovely guitar, casual strings and street strutting beats make for a Big Apple back drop to this modern day poppy-electro-indie-baroque mish mash, lightly sprinkled with the parts of Tori Amos that don’t make us nauseous. Actor may not be quick off the line but seems to have a slow burning quality that grows with multiple tastings.
Lit Hardway
Key Tracks: The Strangers, Actor Out Of Work, Laughing With A Mouth Of Blood, Marrow
Moods: Tender, Sensual, Quirky, Elegant, Sophisticated, Bittersweet, Precious, Innocent
Buy: Actor
related
- St. Vincent – Last Night @ La Sala Rossa
- Phoenix – Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix
- Hardcore Punks The Bronx Go Mariachi?
