I can't turn off what turns me on

Completing my trip up The Guardian's 50 best albums of 2017.

#1 : Masseduction - St Vincent

A kind of teasing irony is detectable on Masseduction, a musical striptease on which Annie Clark – who performs as St Vincent – exposes herself on her own terms. The results are spectacular: full of drama and gratifyingly bizarre sonic choices. Clark makes a rock-star power play by embracing thrilling glam traditions while producing something strange, new and unequivocally moving.

This is only our second ever visit with Annie Clark aka St Vincent, but she's been mentioned loads of times as a guest artist or an influence. She always strikes me as someone who could have been massively popular if she'd decided to play things that way, but she's very much done things her own way, thank you very much. I listened to this back in the day when it came out and enjoyed it, but can't say I've ever revisited it, so am looking forward to doing so - and because it's #1, let's give it a track-by-track breakdown

1. Hang On Me

This is a slow-burner opener which sounds quite Tori Amos like

2. Pills
This is an up-tempo art-rock number, which then segues into a slower tempo section for no obvious reason (probably just because she can).

3. Masseduction
This is a 70s glam-rock style track - we can't certainly complain about any lack of variety so far.

4. Sugarboy
This is similar but with hints of disco in there

5. Los Ageless
Whereas we've got a more 80s synth sound to this.

6. Happy Birthday Johnny
And this is a slow ballad with a Joni Mitchell kinda feel to it. It also has some very curious lyrics - "Remember one summer, we walked in Times Square - I showed you the zombies with hundred-inch stares"

7. Savior
This is a very spiky track - all beats and bass.

8. New York
This is slower track with a nice sense of yearning to it.

9. Fear The Future
And we're back to glam with an underlying disco feel to it.

10. Young Lover

And this is similar - she's getting repetitive now :-)

11. Dancing With A Ghost
Ah - a 46 second instrumental with pretty much no content. Why not, eh?

12. Slow Disco

And this is a slow, almost orchestral number.

13. Smoking Section
And this is another slower one which she sings really deep, almost talking in places. Except that, of course, at the end, she goes really high. 

Across the album, there's a fine sense of musicality with some very decent production which somehow manages to bind the whole thing together despite the variety of styles on display. Because it uses various genres, it manages to sound quite timeless - obviously referencing many other artists, but equally (now) referenced by other artists (I can imagine Billie Eilish and Charli XCX having listened to this). 

The lyrics are nicely cryptic whilst still giving the feeling that you know what she means, without necessarily being able to explain why you think that (I think she's missing someone but I've got no idea whether it was a lover or a friend or why they've gone). I liked it a lot on repeat listen, but am not sure it would translate into a "love" on multiple listens, because it all feels quite detached and clinical - but it's a well done detached and clinical. It's also certainly quite the album cover - she appears to have light-emitting arse.

Wikipedia has remarkably little of interest about the album - it's her fifth and was co-produced by St Vincent, Jack Antonoff (the fourth time we've seen him this year) and Lars Stalfors. She has an interesting selection of guest artists involved - Kamasi Washington, Jenny Lewis, Cara Delevingne and her uncle and aunt, who are the US jazz duo, Tuck & Patti. She said the album deals with "power, sex, drugs, sadness, imperiled relationships and death" and stated it is "pretty first person. You can't fact-check it, but if you want to know about my life, listen to this record". Critically, it was very well received with Wikipedia listing 31 year-end lists it appeared on - apparently this made it the fourth most mentioned album on year-end lists (unsurprisingly, Kendrick was top, followed by Lorde and SZA - which is The Guardian's top four). Commercially, it did pretty well here, getting to #6 and in the US, getting to #10 - it charted in quite a few other countries but didn't do as well.

discogs.com tells us you can pick up a CD for four quid, but if you want either the pink or lapis blue vinyl editions they're going to set you back £50. This feels like a "good" album, which has a lot to say without easily giving up its secrets, but it's also an album which you don't have to spend ages poring over to "enjoy" it - and as such I'm quite happy with its position at #1 in The Guardian's list.

And we made it to the end - JUST before we complete the 2017 charts for the year!

#3-2 - One I get, one I don't