St. Vincent - Cruel (buy)
The guitars of Strange Mercy aren't as big as Ms Clark is known for, but in their place she has crafted melodies so sweet that they don't need the saccharine synths they're washed down with. Her voice reaches peaks of expression heard so clearly that it's hard not to imagine the big shapes her mouth makes. "Cruel" is surely bright enough and its hook big enough to foefie slide her from indie darling to radio-hit-Fiat-commercial soundtrack. Although the album is slightly less layered than Actor and features far fewer violent guitar thrashing moments, it's immensely easy to like on first-listen and will undoubtedly endear her to fans of coffee-shop songwriters everywhere. That doesn't mean it's not really good though.
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