If you’ve read any recent interviews with Annie Clark, chances are you already know that Actor, her second album under the St. Vincent moniker, was inspired by the scores to animated Disney features such as Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast. So it’s not entirely surprising when “The Strangers,” the album’s opening track, begins with ten seconds of gently purring woodwinds and haunting swells of choral harmonies. (Close your eyes and you can almost see the enchanted forest, with magical creatures emerging from the undergrowth.) The album is full of moments such as this, most notably on “The Party,” a sweeping baroque pop masterpiece that makes a compelling case for the best song of 2009. It begins as a restrained piano pop song, with dreamy vocals and seductive lyrics (”I sit transfixed by a hole in your t-shirt”); then, just when you think it’s over, it explodes into a stunning coda of majestic strings and thundering timpani drums, sounding like Sufjan Stevens at his most ambitious.
But despite the new influences, Actor isn’t too much of a departure from 2007’s Marry Me. As on that album, any moments of beauty come interspersed between abrasive noise rock experiments and frightening imagery (just look at the title of “Laughing Through a Mouthful of Blood”). Lead single and sort-of title track “Actor Out of Work” is a punkish stomper, with riffing so distorted, it’s impossible to tell what instruments are being played. “Black Rainbow” beings with piano and gently pulsing strings, gradually getting more and more distorted throughout its four-minute runtime.
Actor is less immediate and pop-friendly than Marry Me—it scarcely even has any choruses, never mind ones as catchy as “Apocalypse Song.” Consequently, it’s a more challenging listen, especially due to the sudden shifts in tone. But it’s also more rewarding, as it becomes easier to follow Annie Clark on her emotional roller coaster with repeated listens.
Actor is out today via 4AD.
But despite the new influences, Actor isn’t too much of a departure from 2007’s Marry Me. As on that album, any moments of beauty come interspersed between abrasive noise rock experiments and frightening imagery (just look at the title of “Laughing Through a Mouthful of Blood”). Lead single and sort-of title track “Actor Out of Work” is a punkish stomper, with riffing so distorted, it’s impossible to tell what instruments are being played. “Black Rainbow” beings with piano and gently pulsing strings, gradually getting more and more distorted throughout its four-minute runtime.
Actor is less immediate and pop-friendly than Marry Me—it scarcely even has any choruses, never mind ones as catchy as “Apocalypse Song.” Consequently, it’s a more challenging listen, especially due to the sudden shifts in tone. But it’s also more rewarding, as it becomes easier to follow Annie Clark on her emotional roller coaster with repeated listens.
Actor is out today via 4AD.
