Etrange Miséricorde

Dave Dyment

Ex-Polyphonic Spree, copine de Sufjan Stevens, Annie Clark affirme son art singulier sur un inquiétant troisième album. Bardée de batteries heavy, enroulant ses cordes synthétiques autour de nos cous, percluse de guitares grotesquement saturées, cette « étrange miséricorde » exhale un parfum sourd et lourd de colère et de vengeance. De Cheerleader (“I, I, I, I don’t want to be a cheerleader no more”) ou Chloe in the afternoon (version SM de L’amour l’après-midi de Rohmer), jusqu’à Surgeon (hommage au corps sexuel sacrifié de Marylin Monroe) ou Cruel (« casually cruel »), on passe de l’hystérie (cuts électroniques) à une psychose (cordes hermanniennes), follement maîtrisée. Ca va faire mal.

Chronique à paraître dans Trois Couleurs #95

“Best finest surgeon, Strasberg waits to cut me open.”, Marilyn Monroe
“I thought that was an incredibly poetic line and a strange sentiment – wanting someone to come in and make that adjustment that will heal you,” says Clark, who adds that the troubled actress “was a highly intelligent woman and doesn’t get enough credit for being very powerful.” Clark pondered the line as she finished Monroe’s Fragments: Poems, Intimate Notes, Letters, and eventually she used it as the chorus for “Surgeon,” a stand-out on Strange Mercy, her third album as St. Vincent.

http://www.americansongwriter.com/2011/09/st-vincent-method-actor/