Strange Mercy - St Vincent (2011)
A bit of a departure for Clark.
The dirty little secret of loud rock music: distortion is often a means of diguising the fact that your guitarist only actually knows a couple of chords and can’t play an arpeggio to save his life. St Vincent might have been using that aesthetically on her first few records, but make no mistake: she is a powerful and self-assured guitarist.
The reverb-heavy, jagged indie rock and dance-punk sounds inspired by Elephant Six and LCD Soundsystem mostly fall away here, and you get a more forward approach. Clark’s guitar cuts through your speakers, making way for her always-great lyrics and voice.
She trades texture for depth, I would say.
Tracks I Liked
Chloe In The Afternoon - a great guitar workout
Cheerleader - a great lyric
Neutered Fruit - a funky little groove
