Author: Michael
St. Vincent – Masseduction (2017)
Masseduction is St Vincent’s fifth album and first with acclaimed producer Jack Antonoff who is everywhere at the moment. Similar to past releases, this is a mix bag of sounds from the talented and capital A artist, Annie Clark. First single “New York” was a song of the year choice for us from the second we heard it and second single “Los Ageless” has a killer chorus: “how can anybody love you and lose you and not lose their minds too?”
First track “Hang On Me” is the most downtempo sound here followed by the peppiest in “Pills”. The 80s robotic funk of the title track and “Sugar Boy” are less successful but the apoplectic “Fear the Future” is a roar of sound. The fury of an overdosing “Young Lover” is another high: “I heard the robins and thought they were sirens, wake up young lover, I thought you were dyin’”. On Masseduction St Vincent continues to be one of the most interesting artists working around the fringes of the mainstream.
p.s I thought the album was called Mass-Education until a few days ago…
7.5/10
…you’re a dream to me…
…in bar light she looked all right…
Broken Social Scene – Hug of Thunder (2017)
After a seven year hiatus, Toronto supergroup Broken Social Scene reconvened to record Hug of Thunder, their fifth release. “The gang is all here” is a most fitting expression for this as 18 musicians are credited on the album including all the usual bigger name suspects such as Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning, Emily Haines, Feist, etc. After a short instrumental the band hits the floor running with “Halfway Home” whereas the modern folk tinged “Skyline” sounds straight off a TV commercial that has people reaching for Shazam to figure out who sings it.
“Towers and Masons” is a unique midtempo track while the Haines’ fronted “Protest Song” is the best rocking moment here. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the hushed Feist lead title track is to these ears is the best thing they’ve done since 2002’s “Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl”. “There was a military base across the street, we watch them training while we eat” is a very simple but excellent line about the state of the world. While a couple of songs drag, the band mostly wear their aging Toronto hipster (musicianship) very well.
7.5/10
