Round-up Tracks: St Vincent, Lana Del Rey & More

With a victorious year coming to a close, St. Vincent’s enigmatic brainchild Annie Clark has chosen to bid adieu with a Black Friday Record Store Day release, showcasing unreleased material that didn’t quite earn a spot on the album that’s earned her countless accolades and bountiful praise. Whilst ‘Pieta’ may not have fit so snugly amongst the grandiose recordings that comprise her crowning self-titled record, it’s still indubitably captivating - and at least offers a little insight into Clark’s transition from 2012’s ‘Strange Mercy’. Drumming up urgency via a series of tribal rhythmic patterns and the occasional eerie reverberated synth, Clark’s calm and collected vocal delivery during the song’s otherwise panicked verses acts as a divine contrast. With a wholly angelic chorus serving as the track’s only other variation, ‘Pieta’ might be a distinctly linear journey – but like much of Clark’s craft, it’s an expedition for listeners that’s rife with wonderment and creative contentment. (Joshua Pauley - @PutUp0rShutUp)

Mixing downbeat autobiography with clever-clever Hollywood construct, the allure of Lana Del Rey has always resided in her blurring of the lines between the real and the fake. The perfect choice then to pen the title track to the soon-to-be-released Margaret Keane biopic ‘Big Eyes’. Scaling down the film’s plot into a breathless five minutes, Del Rey voices the song from Keane’s perspective, painting the artist’s ill experience and mistreatment into a portfolio already bulging with narratives of wronged women and cheated heroines. Over a familiar string-sodden canvas, augmented on occasion by twinkling keys and glistening brass blares, she slips into the same irrational, infraction-forgiving mindset that she first perfected on ‘Blue Jeans’, “it’s amazing what women in love will do”, she quivers mid-way through, applying the finishing touches to a portrait of an individual blinded by the pursuit of romance. Sound familiar? Not even an embarrassingly on-the-nose chorus can manage to derail the bleakness that rests at its blackened core. Spector-sized and laced with grandeur, ‘Big Eyes’ is the finest example of Lana’s film-scoring potential to date. Bond 24 take note. (Dan Owens - @DanOwens_1991)

‘push pull’ is by no means a debut track; but if it was, Purity Ring would’ve floored everyone in sight. Their debut album ‘Shrines’ was celebrated for its vivid lyrical imagery and its skewed take on synthesised hip hop beats. ‘push pull’ is an example of the duo using their own sound and tweaking it with more clarity and elegance. Sonically and lyrically, this represents Purity Ring taking big steps forward when it comes to alt-pop. In their own words, they’re “carving out the spaces” of pop’s modern form and positioning themselves in the gaps otherwise unfilled. There’s no other word on their second album at present, just that it will be released sometime in 2015 via 4AD. Details aside, ‘push pull’ is a sufficient statement of intent, where Purity Ring reappear with the familiar and redefine their sound on their own terms. (Sean Stanley - @SeanPStanley)

This week’s banger comes from jailbird and Ice Cream tattoo-totin’ trap star Gucci Mane. With a beat that’s indebted to early 2000s Timbaland mixed with Lex Luger, “evil voices in my head telling me to get this bread” is the unlikely chorus of the last seven days. Imagine an Aaliyah album cut mixed with a Waka Flocka Flame track and you’re somewhere near the production of ‘Dead People’; a metaphor that lends reference to Jay-Z’s ‘Dead Presidents’, or more pertinently, ‘The World is Yours’ by Nas. Atlanta’s Raury goes in with a breathless, fast-paced flow working in totem with Gucci’s woozy delivery. “I been living like a King all week, I’m a peasant at the end of every day” is one of the best post-Run The Jewels lines this year. He may be incarcerated, but Gucci continues to do work. if we can look forward to more tracks like ‘Dead People’ once GUWOP does his bid, then we’re too lucky. (Euan L. Davidson - @tweeteuan)

“In light of recent events”, Nicolas Jaar & DJ Slugo’s new collaboration is a response to devastating events across the USA - most recently the deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Staten Island’s Eric Garner, and Tamir Rice in Cleveland. “Ghetto” is the most powerful and striking piece that you’ll hear this week. When one door closes another is never far from opening, and that sentiment couldn’t be truer than of Darkside’s recent decision to call indefinite time on their project. Nicolas Jaar is forever evolving and excelling in each fresh venture. His production here is crisp and peaceful, much like the ‘cold but sunny morning’ on which it was sculpted. The instrumental acts as a calming counter to the scenes that served as its inspitation, an understated resting bed that swells and subsides beneath Slugo’s absorbing spoken word delivery. “I tired to change and sometimes change is hard / When you’ve got things embedded in your head from the way you came up / You are scarred” – Slugo proves his worth away from the decks to construct a sincere narrative befitting of the New York deep house sound that Jaar imitates. It’s a combination to leave you in a consumed state of reflection. (Liam McNeilly - @liammcneilly)

Blurring the lines between artist and art project, Angels and Airwaves’ latest venture ‘The Dream Walker’ looks set to transcend sonically anything the intergalactic rockers have done before. Its third offering ‘Tunnels’ deals with the metaphysical connection to death and tries to evoke senses of the celestial unknown – all from the guy who built much of his 90s career on a foundation of blow job jokes. It’s evolution in super speed with DeLonge self-confessing this track as one of the top two of his career. AVA fans can enjoy a more ambitious soundscape, Blink fans can re-identify with a driving anthemic chorus, and everyone else can enjoy impersonating the renowned pubescent whine of pop punk’s answer to Peter Pan. Omniscient and reminiscent. Ethereal but authentic. Basically, it’s an Angels and Airwaves song about angels and airwaves. (Chris Rickett - @chrisrickett)

Teasing at their upcoming first full-length ‘Ratworld’, Menace Beach have doused latest offering ‘Blue Eye’ in thick swathes of murk and fog. A hazy, electronica fused departure from their earlier guitar pop offerings, it’s more of a drone than ever before and harbours an almost trance-inducing simplicity. Holding together this almost intangible mist is the whispering vocal of Liza Violet – a paper-thin thread that is sewn throughout. Haunting and delicate, Violet’s pondering on her insecurities seems destined to be overwhelmed by the pillowy noise that surrounds her. It’s the kind of entrancing, restrained melancholy that certain members of the Leeds group have harnessed through their previous endeavours in Hookworms, and when viewed alongside the pedigree of their current fellow band mates, it marks out Menace Beach as an exciting prospect indeed. ‘Ratworld’ is released just a couple of weeks into 2015, but it already looks set to claim a spot on end-of-year lists in twelve months’ time. (Tom Connick - @ginandconnick)

Tags: Features, Lana Del Rey, Listen, St. Vincent