Annie - Strange Mercy

Along came Annie Clark, a singer-songwriter slash exceptionally great experimental guitarist wearing the code name St. Vincent. She hit the charts with her 2007 "Marry Me" debut album after just leaving Sufjan Stevens' touring band. But her 2009 album "Actor" that leads the way to a notable standard in the U.S music scene. And now with her new album this year "Strange Mercy", she came through from an Indie pipe-dream blast and sits nicely on this "Album of The Year" contest.

A very strong album in terms of mood and tone, experimental but still easy enough to listen to. It's kind of pop-ish alternative music perhaps, no doubt that Annie has a great voice that you all can enjoy. On this album she exploits her guitar improvisation to another level that puts the word  strange to its ideal core. Yes this is like Annie's personal "OK Computer". Quirky by nature, this album feels more eclectic than her previous albums but this one stamped our love letters to indie rock and our greeting cards for alternative pop.

I can tell a little story to review the album and here it goes: "Beautiful singing meets synthesizers, they bonded nicely, decided to have a few drinks afterwards in some bar. At the other table, there was electronic drum beats and experimental guitar arguing endlessly about who's better in Pac-Man. The waitress named Annie was so irritated with them, and decided to fool both of them. She told the that the couple at table #3 are last year champion and runner-up of this bar's Pac-Man yearly competition. Already fired-up the two challenged their so-called nemesis, the couple actually took the challenge just to made the night unforgettable. Game on, the two scoundrels beats the dazzling couple, they said "What a strange mercy folks!"