St. Vincent - Strange Mercy

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Early listens don't yield a whole lot, but I can confidently say that this is a quality piece of work on the first listen. The baroque arrangements, the lovely interludes tucked away within each "song" that could be heard during Actor are scarce here, replaced by a lot of grit and electronic buzz. If anything, the tracks feel more fluid and unpredictable than ever though, often eschewing choruses (a good idea for her; they've never been her strong suit, and a couple of tracks still feature her chanting the song's title over and over and calling it a chorus) for passages that highlight her talent for arrangement as well as her chops as a guitarist, which are indeed confirmed at this point.

Favorite songs are difficult to pick out but (sadly) the songs we had already heard are probably the best; Cruel, Surgeon and Year of the Tiger are remarkable. There are a bunch of songs that still wander for me at this point, but all of them feature remarkable individual passages.

Though comparing one artist's creative path to another is usually inane and unhelpful, I would say this album is more Age of Adz than Illinois. Thankfully, she has a better grasp on economy than Sufjan does, because at 40 minutes I could easily play this over and over.
 
Just to warn, spoilers don't do anything when you're viewing the previews for posts before you go into them. So imps will still see the first line or so of what people post. At least that's what happens on an iphone.
 
The album is streaming over at NPR's "First Listen" right now. I gave it a careful listen, but all I will say for now is that "Chloe in the Afternoon" is one of the best song titles of the year.
 
See, now I'm faced with a real dilemma. But considering my LP is likely to arrive sometime this week, I think I'll sit this one out.
 
Ah, just got my shipment confirmation. Hurry up already.

There's a nice interview on Pitchfork today, if you dig.
 
Having listened to a few tracks from this album again, I need to say that the vocals on this thing have evolved considerably from Actor. She demonstrates some serious range and innovation throughout the album, and I really applaud her for that.
 
Freakin' Beggars sent me the Girls LP rather than St. Vincent's by mistake. I'd rather keep both.
 
Bummer. Call them. That's happened to me before, and I just kept the other one with no repercussions.

Hoping mine gets here tomorrow. I'm ready to hear this already.
 
Thanks - glad to know that they've corrected this sort of problem quickly in the past. I sent an email and will call tomorrow if there's a problem. I was really looking forward to hearing this when I saw that the package had arrived. Oh well.
 
For what it's worth, my incident wasn't with Beggars. But godspeed anyway.
 
You were right, Impy. They let me keep the Girls album and will send me Strange Mercy again. Cool deal.
 
Hype. Not gonna read that quite yet aince I most likely get to finally hear this today. Holy smokes. But thanks for passing it along.
 
I didn't realize it and Girls were both out this week. I may have to stop by the record store tomorrow.
 
I actually just made another run through the Girls album just now. So damn good. I'm going to try and pick it up if I can sneak in a vinyl happy hour stop before the hot Bon Iverings I'll be receiving tomorrow.
 
That's pretty cool. She's in town cause she's doing a free show tomorrow if you buy the album at Fingerprints or Amoeba or whatever. You should go.

How'd you like SVE? She's the greatest.
 
Times like these are when I wonder if I'm the only cat in the world spinning this while watching Tom Brady's voluminous locks swing to and fro.
 
That's pretty cool. She's in town cause she's doing a free show tomorrow if you buy the album at Fingerprints or Amoeba or whatever. You should go.

How'd you like SVE? She's the greatest.

Yeah I saw the ad for that Vinnie show, always a clusterfuck over there so I may or may not make it.

SVE was good, won me over by the end of the set after what was clearly a nervous, shaky start. She was disarming, kept talking about how big of a deal it was to be playing the Bowl. Her parents were there, and she dedicated a song to them, which was cute.
 
I'm glad to hear you enjoyed her set. It's going to be very interesting to see what she does for her Jagjaguwar debut next year. Epic and Because I Was in Love are both really promising, especially the former. Not a bad tune on it, and "Love More" is the hottest shit ever.
 
Times like these are when I wonder if I'm the only cat in the world spinning this while watching Tom Brady's voluminous locks swing to and fro.
I listened to it while watching Kyle Orton refuse to get the fucking ball to Brandon Lloyd, my last hope at a comeback this week.

P'Fork says 9.0/BNM. PFan says "No comment until further review, but I have a feeling the further review will be this is awesome."
 
Man, that is a rave review. And it definitely approaches over-the-top praise at times.

And when her voice can't bear it, her guitar does the screaming.

Get the fuck outta here.
 
A champagne year is supposed to be celebrated when you turn the same age as the day you were born, but "Champagne Year" finds the singer-- born September 28, 1982-- in a decidedly non-bottle-popping mood.


Oh man do I want to sock this motherfucker in the jaw.
 
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