St. Vincent – Actor album Review
Annie Clark or St. Vincent in her photos almost looks angelic or like a stone sculptured goddess. She’s beautiful in the godlike sort of way. In a way her singing and her debut album “Marry Me” played to more of that character. Perhaps joking referring to Bible references and what not showed off her soft smooth vocals in a rather safe manner. While it seems there many St. Vincent fans (I being one of them despite my 4/5 negatively-toned review) the first album still had many weak points that resulted in an album I rarely play often despite the many high points.
Which leads to Actor, the now critically acclaimed album offers much much more despite the blank looking album cover. On this album, St. Vincent discretely or subtly shows off a dark side. I think it comes as much as a surprise in contrast to “Marry Me” which was a little playful but didn’t show as much depth of character. Clark signifies the word “Actor” much more, either with her image being an illusion or signifying many different people as the Pitchfork review suggests.
It makes the music more interesting and I can say that this album in its entirety doesn’t wane from start to finish despite singles The Strangers and Actor Out of Work being at the beginning of the album. I must say the production of this album, is where it ultimately shines bright. Annie Clark and John Congleton skills embark on creating a soft yet dark environment while not taking away from Clark’s vocals. The production probably stands out on Marrow where it attacks with a horror movie like frantic pace…but at times it’s my least favourite track due to taking so much away from Clark as a lead. That’s just one small misstep if anything.
I always tend to run out things good to say when it comes to St. Vincent (I sometimes always end up concentrating on negative aspects on albums). She’s an amazing artist who has both an aura around her yet she’s not afraid to include subtle humour into her songs and now with Actor has added personality into her arsenal (while she was funny before, she seemed – faceless before). She’s takes major steps forward as a result.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Excellent album. Probably in my top 20 of ’09 list. I still have a hard time going up and beyond and call it a masterpiece but she inches ever so close. The thing with St. Vincent albums so far is that songs don’t transition as well as you’d like despite most songs being very good.
Actor Out of Work by St. Vincent
Just The Same But Brand New by St. Vincent
The Strangers by St. Vincent
Video for Actor Out of Work after the jump.
Tags: album
