Wednesday, Dec. 07, 2011
St. Vincent, 'Cruel'
St. Vincent (née Annie Clark) has a knack for making the macabre sound merry. Her ode to abuse is a unique combination of art rock, disco and baroque pop. The muddled, messy guitar riffs add a bit of grime to the otherwise cheerful tune, as Clark sings about "waving flares in the air" for help only to have her rescuers "blow past," laughing. On "Cruel," Clark has crafted a melody so beautiful it could be sung by a Disney princess, bound it, gagged it and dragged it through the mud.