MASSEDUCTION (studio album) by St. Vincent

From grohly 04/07/2023 16:48

I'm not the biggest St Vincent fan in terms of her entire discography but this album is an incredible force of nature. The run from Pills to Los Ageless feels like an intravenous hit of adrenaline! New York and Slow Disco signal a completely different change in vibe but are beautiful songs in their own rights. Her masterpiece.

Some great songs scattered in amongst some pretty average tracks that makes for an inconsistent listen on the whole. She seems to struggle on this record to maintain the quality from song to song and she seems to have a pattern of letting albums slowly drift off near the end. To start with the positives we get some energy filled and fun songs right at the beginning with the likes of Pills, Los Ageless and the title track. All of these are infectious and have stellar instrumentals, vocals and production with them sounding extremely smooth and fresh. Then after track 5 it descends into a bit of mess. We really don't get very many more highlights after this and it does become a drag to listen to especially by the last 4 songs as you just feel stuck in a repetitive cycle. She seems to lose her energy and passion by the conclusion and that makes for a really boring listen for us. The lyrics are weak in comparison to her other projects as well with it feeling like going back to basics in terms of song writing. Overall, if the consistency of the first 5 tracks could be maintained then this would be a far superior record but that quality is lost and we get a repetitive and uninteresting finale instead.

New wave tropes have always been evident in St. Vincent’s work, but here they are brought out in full force as a way of articulating her frustration with sexism in music journalism. Her lyrics in particular mock the fetishistic idea of female musicians needing to be seen more than heard, but this is no lecture. In fact, through crossing out everything she isn’t, St. Vincent makes her clearest self-portrait yet.

I don't care what any of y'all say... St. Vincent had the greatest album of 2017. From the gay ballad turned banger that is "Slow Disco" to fan favorite "New York" this album shines. The album isn't her most cohesive but every song is absolutely perfect. (At least is not of those albums so cohesive that every song sounds the exact same) I wouldn't change anything about it and it deserves recognition. The greatest guitarist alive and one of our best songwriters.

The first half is okay, there's not a single bad song, but they're not great either, they're just good. However, the second half is amazing and I think that has some of the best songs she's ever released (New York, Fear the Future, Young Lover and Slow Disco).

From joannajewsom 03/30/2018 22:57

Happy Birthday, Johnny is moving.

From Vatsal 02/04/2018 08:56

the ratings for the songs are so low. How is Pills not an 85+ rated song?

This album is criminally underrated on this site.

From junodog4 12/19/2017 03:33

Is this her best? It well could be. Annie Clarke achieves what Arcade Fire were trying to do.

From HoldenM 12/18/2017 17:43

If this were all instrumentals, this would be one of the best albums of the year, no question. Lyrically though, I'm at a loss. Never has Annie Clark been so heavy-handed. This album has no interest in nuance or wit. Gone are the evocative turns of phrase that made St. Vincent's early work so sly and surprising. Gone is the subtlety. Gone is the patience. And that wouldn't be much of an issue if this record wasn't so overbearing, or if it didn't feel the need to hit every point over the head with a sledgehammer. There are some pretty good songs here--"Hang On Me," "Los Angeles," and "Happy Birthday, Johnny" are solid highlights--but on the whole, I should not be rolling my eyes at a St. Vincent record.