Review Summary: St. Vincent experiments and the result is a couple of their best songs thus far.
In celebration of record store day, up-and-coming indie pop star Annie Clark released a two song 7". Instead of following her typical formula of cooky melodies and odd rhythms, St. Vincent experimented and the result is a stellar, albeit brief experience.
The first of the two songs, "Krokodil", is a fast punk influenced number. Take St. Vincent's quickest paced song and turn it up a few more notches, throw in some of her most intense lyrics yet ("Never was much for lives, but you're mine, by the sharp of my ***ing teeth") and combine all that with reverb-heavy guitars and Annie's trademark vocals and you have a very short but sweet song, and one of her best tracks yet.
"Grot" is perhaps St. Vincent's most experimental song so far. The track makes for a great companion of the "Krokodil" bring the same heavy punch, but slowed down. The sludgy sounding riffs and pounding drums take the forefront while Annie warbles on about how power can control our every thought. The result is an unsettling yet incredible five minutes of a side of Annie we haven't yet seen.
Despite the short seven and a half minute run time of St. Vincent's
Krokodil 7", Annie and the rest of her crew give us just enough to hold us over until their collaboration with David Byrne. Perhaps these two songs represent some brief experimentation, or maybe they will find their way into the groups' new sound. One can only hope.
