St. Vincent - St. Vincent Lyrically, she is so on point with this album.

She's coming from what seems like a really good place, personally, (as opposed to Strange Mercy, which she has sp oken about being from a dark time in her life) and they come out really well and put together. "fake knives/real ketchup" on Huey Newton, the not-so-subtle angs t directed at the Social Media Dilemma in Digital Witness--both tracks paint a v ivid picture of enthusiastic anxiety. Musically, I have a few issues with how Byrne-y it all is. She uses a lot of cam py (for lack of a better word) bass lines throughout (most notably in Psychopath ) (and I could definitely do without the horn multi-tracking in Digital Witness) , but is able to redeem these issues in my eyes with striking quirks that give t his album its life. The phrase-ending "yeahhh"s in Digital Witness, the off-kilt er filtering of the drum set on Birth in Reverse are both signature in style and striking in contrast to the predominately tight and clean soundscape of the alb um as a whole. The guitar playing is technical and catchy as always; it's clear Clark's outstanding ear for riffs (the party is one of the most stunning). Textu rally, St. Vincent (the album) is generally very dense (except for I Prefer Your Love, in theory), but peaceable. Unlike with Strange Mercy, St. Vincent doesn't challenge the listen to expand their vocabulary or perception of their vocabula ry, but rather serves as an affirmation of artist who sounds very comfortable in the music and aura she is creating. It shows incredible vulnerability for an artist to fully commit to a concept lik e this. it's one thing to be a rocker showing up in jeans and a cutoff t-shirt, because what do they have to lose? Trying to seem like you don't care is weak, a nd what Annie Clark is doing here is the absolute opposite. She puts her edgy, " indie darling" credibility and reputation on the line and creates a meaningful a lbum out of the riskiness.