Very loosely related, I now have a Honda Accord, circa 2006. The sound system is pre-mp3 CD player or hook-up and post-cassette ipod converter. I'm stuck with only the standard CD player until I get the gumption to drill a hole in the console. To ease the withdrawal from the ipod, which is sadly on its last leg anyway, I actually bought a CD, in the real, in the physical, in the flesh, packaging and all. Just kidding. From time to time, when I like the packaging or want to support an artist, this happens. So short story long, a few weeks back, I bought Actor by St. Vincent.
I'm impressed with how sophisticated her arrangements are. But then given her history, she's not a newbie like Lorde or even Grimes. She played for years with Polyphonic Spree, toured as a guitarist for Sufjan Stevens and has collaborated with a bunch of other artists, most recently and notably David Byrne, as you know former front man of the legendary Talking Heads.
Laughing with A Mouth of Blood is my favorite track on the album. It's kind of manic, weirdly happy and dark in a twisted balance, with equally catchy chorus and verses.
On the other hand, Marrow, one of the singles is my least favorite. Whenever that happens, I'm reminded that if I don't like the first single I hear from an artist, I should listen to some of the other tracks on an album, because the Record Company, specifically the A&R person, doesn't necessarily share my taste. In fact I'd wager a bet that sometimes A&R doesn't even like that track, but they vote with their wallet, thinking that it's probably the bread winner.
She studied at Berklee in Boston, which.. sorry folks... means there's a good chance she's pretentious and smug. (If you go to Berklee, you guys have a reputation to work on.) But I hope for the best.
It's like lightening, when such talent, intelligence, and beauty all strike on the same person. I can't help but wonder how many fiercely talented brilliant (non-photo ready) musicians are out there, struggling to get a leg up in the industry. Sadly it goes with out saying that this is much more of an issue for women.
I was debating with my best brainy friend about this. We were trying to decide between mainstream music and movies, which industry would it be harder to get into if you weren't a typical young and photogenic woman. She said obviously acting, it's all about the camera. I saw her logic, but I say mainstream music.
For actresses, it's of course not easy, but though it may take time to find, there are parts for all types and all ages. Movies follow reality, to some degree. A role might not be the leading lady, but there are character actors who have made lucrative careers with plenty work and fame, who don't have the typical magazine-cover face and body. Take Helen Mirren, even though she has been around and active forever, it is just now as she's hitting her sixties that she has become a sort of pop culture goddess.
So back to my argument, in mainstream pop music there are no real niches for anything other than white teeth, hair, body and no wrinkles ala Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, Beyonce, Rihanna, Gaga, Taylor Swift, et al. Even Adele, who doesn't have a dancer's body, is incredibly beautiful and photogenic. I heard her producer call her "disgustingly overweight," which just goes to show you how physically scrutinized these musicians really are, even by the people that are supposed to be on their team. That's not wanting to pose nude for Vogue, forget being older, when was the last time anyone other than a symmetrical girl in her twenties broke through in mainstream pop. I don't think it has ever happened.
What a hard road it is for an outsider to get their music out there to the masses.
Then of course there's St. Vincent.
My mister was making fun of these lyrics:
"Paint the black hole blacker"
I actually really like the lyrics to this track, Strangers. One can surmise forever what a writer meant by lyrics, but to me these relate to how sometimes when a situation is bad, you have an eerie desire to make it worse. It's a self-destructive tick, that might just be your last vestige of control trying to take action, thinking that if a situation cannot be improved, then at least I have the control to make it worse.
"You showed up with a black eye looking to go start a fight"
As in the baggage that people carry into a relationship. They are already wounded from the pain of previous heartache, but are carrying that masochistic torch onward into another.
David Byrne is probably one of my top five all time favorite musicians, that said, his voice on this track lingers too long in the high registers and therefore kind of kills the song for me. But seeing him dance is still enjoyable, especially now that he has let his hair go completely white and taken on this roll of a kooky senior.
