heavier, darker & more expansive album from the musically intrepid annie clarke, is repressed with a bonus dvd of video material.

with a gift for fusing the cerebral & the visceral, her melodically elegant arrangements on previous outings ‘marry me’ & ‘actor’ have packed hefty emotional punches. ‘strange mercy’ is no exception  but she also wields a virtuosity linked inextricably with the guitar. countless judiciously placed riffs & instrumental flares, each distinct &  unique, cohere into grand tableaux that translate into a strong sense of menace. on ‘cruel’, she elicits punchy bursts like an r&b horn section, ‘cheerleader’ froths & boils, with deep & fuzzy guitars bubbling up to the surface & ‘surgeon’ twirls about endlessly, clarke’s vocals dancing amid a blizzard of notes. impressive stuff from a seemingly unhinged musical mind. dvd features videos & live footage of ‘cheerleader’, ‘cruel’, ‘chloe in the afternoon’, ‘surgeon’, ‘strange mercy’ & ‘year of the tiger’.