Our second taste of St. Vincent’s third album, Strange Mercy, is here — complete with a few of those “redefining the idea of the guitar hero” moments teased in the LP’s official announcement, not to mention recent Tom Waits and Big Black covers. While Annie Clark’s rhythm-shifting, synth-heavy “Surgeon” cut made for a logical successor to her sophomore record, Actor, “Cruel” keeps the beat steady over more memorable melodies, building to an excellent multi-textured finish. Read more here by Clark herself about getting buried alive in the Terri Timely-directed official clip above (that sludgy, blinded guitar solo in the trunk of a car at 1:20 is priceless).
