St. Vincent “The Strangers”
The initial tease of eccentric singer-songwriter St. Vincent‘s May-set second album Actor, “The Strangers” spends a majority of it’s length flitting around like some early-day Disney-fied wonderland, a lullaby foundation of twinkly chimes and woodwind chirps illustrating this magical place that could only exist in the corners of one young child’s imagination. But bubbling within the sugary orchestration’s nooks and crannies lies an adult-centric darkness that threatens to destroy all the hunky-dory.
Peppered with the recurring phrase “Paint the black hole blacker”, the lyric follows Vincent and her romantic partner’s rising dysfunction, with snide remarks being thrown about (“Desperate don’t look good on you/ Neither does your virtue”) and public outbursts dulling what should be the happiest day of someone else’s life (“I threw flowers in your face/ On my sister’s wedding day”). When their animosity eventually boils to a peak, a stormy swirl of feedback noise is conjured up to run amuck all over “Strangers”‘ fairy-tale soundtrack; but just like any relationship battle, it eventually fizzles away, signaling the score’s quick revert back to all things delightful.
Have the characters’ problems been resolved? Vincent’s repeated verse of black eyes and nerve-testing taunts towards the end verifies that the strain is still there, and it’s within these closing moments that this on-running tension is revealed to not be as much of a bad thing as we might suspect: “Lover I don’t play to win/ For the thrill, until I’m spent,” she echoes of an earlier line.
Seems she gets a kick out of their never-ending quarrels. And that’s okay, cause it’s quirky lil’ touches like that (alongside the track’s bedazzling cinematic-like musicality) that only re-emphasize why we continue to get a kick out of her.
DL: “The Strangers” (alt)
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