742 St Vincent - Strange Mercy (2011)

 742 St Vincent - Strange Mercy (2011)

Studio Album - Experimental Pop


About the Act:

St Vincent is not a band, as I had thought for many years, but an individual, one Annie Erin Clark from Tulsa Oklahoma. She released her first album in 2007 and has released 6 more since. 

About the Album:

This was her third album.

My History with this Album:

None

Review:

Imagine a cross between Air and Bjork. If you don't know, Air are a French band doing electronica that has a lush, paddy stringness to it, and Bjork is an experimental genius making strange sounds. What do you get? Strange sounds with some bits of lush, paddy stringness.

It's experimental in a modern kind of way, janky and disjointed at times, with lots of production. Odd sounds, odd harmonies, odd chord sequences, odd song structures, odd lyrics, but fairly normal airy singing. It's not as odd as Bjork, and doesn't have the genius or the pathos, but is interesting and curious and, despite the oddness, actually very listenable. It has internal logic, but I didn't fathom out the meaning of most of the lyrics. Mostly I think they are snatches rather than a coherent whole - which is OK.

I enjoyed it. It's better when you listen more. It would suit a dark windswept moor in a nice quiet car with the volume turned up to medium high, or it would be a good album to put on when guests come around if you want them to think you are somewhat sophisticated in your taste of music. For me, it was a nice interesting listen on headphones while I did some boring digging in Minecraft.

7.2/10


Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/5x7cI8aHmaqk03KKl1Auh1

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9CE01D690532AD05

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_Mercy



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