
2.
St. Vincent
Strange Mercy
Key Track: Cruel”
She’s used her china-doll fragility as a Trojan horse for creepy sentiment before, but Annie Clark has never been this unsettling. Swaddled in strings, she was a touch too dull to draw blood; in sparse, erudite synths (skeletons wearing David Byrne’s big suit) she almost cuts too deep. Thuggish policemen, dead-eyed S&M trysts over lunch, contemptuous con men sticking us with the bill (“Oh America, can I owe you one?”). This is the year’s best snapshot of a country whose veneer is cracking, hard. It doubles as a guitar nerd record for a very specific kind of guitar nerd. We thank her for her texture and restraint, on their behalf.
Good album but his vocals are super thin. He barely gets away with being a singer. Honey Bunny is an awesome tune followed by some other solid rocking, (for a change) numbers. My biggest gripe is that My Ma is a complete 100% rip off of Factory by Band of Horses. It is uncannily similar.
here’s some less narcissistic bands
Vulture Shit – http://vultureshit.bandcamp.com/
Robot Death Kites – http://robotdeathkites.bandcamp.com/
nursing home – http://nursinghome.bandcamp.com/