Strange Mercy

St. Vincent. The name is deceiving, not a gospel group, no. A one woman musical expedition led by Annie Clark. Strange Mercy, Clark's third album as St. Vincent is lush. Lush in so many ways, lush sounding lush lyrics, lush instruments. Because of this saturation, the parts of each song where it is all stripped away is oh so refreshing. It's just full of so many things that I love. Her guitar is a magic wand that she uses to paint walls of fuzz and distortion. At one point you could be listening to a tender ballad before it turns into a driving, thick, wall of sound chorus.
Its this unpredictably that has you on your toes throughout all of Strange Mercy. A lyric like "I've seen miracles with no clothes on" seems out of place before you hear the chorus "I don't want to be a cheerleader no more" Sprawling orchestral arrangements sit right beside funky guitar synth solos with no seams between the two. Its quite amazing this sound that comes out of this one woman and if you have ever seen them live, Clark plays a mean guitar that can compliment and clash with her voice in just the perfect way.

Synthesizers tasteful flutter in and out of a song like Champagne Year and take center stage in Surgeon. But all falls back behind Clark's no nonsense voice.
Stand-Out Tracks:
Surgeon
Cruel
Chloe In The Afternoon
Champagne Year