The title of this record is significant: it’s not St. Vincent’s debut, so why would she give it her own name? Self-titling a record usually suggests that it should define what an artist is about. This isn’t an accident: St. Vincent is the very definition of what Annie Clark wants to be as an artist.

Rattlesnake shows her off, but Birth In Reverse is really the best intro to this record — and maybe a great intro to her discography. Huey Newton is a perfect example of the way her music can go from contemplative and even happy to dizzyingly heavy and fuzzy in but moments. Bring Me Your Loves is like a weird Lady Gaga side project. In similar veins, Digital Witness and Regret are pretty much perfect, but you could argue that St. Vincent is at her absolute heart-wrenching best when she slows down for songs like I Prefer Your Love.

And in each of these songs, St. Vincent is throwing weird sounds at the listener, and she’s so talented that it’s hard to tell if she’s using a synth or a guitar to accomplish the noise. It’s a guitar god record from a performer at her peak, but it’s also a master lesson in songwriting. St. Vincent is unpredictable, powerful, and completely disarming.

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It’s also their most likely to succeed, thanks to the way that it blends an obvious variety of influences. At once sounding like Beach House and Chvrches, it feels as if the duo spent the past two years ingesting nothing but Warp and 4AD albums. They come off as a breath of fresh air in a genre that seems cyclically doomed to start feeling stagnant and stale every twenty minutes.

The title track off this EP is what you’ll come for; it’s a total showstopper. That’s not to say the other stuff isn’t good — Ephemera has a fantastic chorus, and Sinking Stone is beautifully moody despite its cheery nature. Actually, Sinking Stone is nearly gospel-like in tone.

I’m a sucker for four-song EPs, which I think is nearly the perfect length for my often-brief attention span, and this is no exception. GEM’s Medusa is a lush, beautiful EP that holds tremendous promise for their future.

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The nature of remixes is that they’re often focused on dance songs, and while that’s true with Strangers, it doesn’t feel disrespectful to the original music. In a lot of ways, it feels like the songs RAC choose to remix are measurably improved by the remixes on this go-around, and given fresh life in addition to a new perspective.

Remixes also tend to focus on pop songs or hip hop, but the choice for RAC to focus almost exclusively on indie rock here is wise. Not only does it differentiate it from the rest of the pack, it also gives us fresh light on what the genre could sound like when it’s prepared for a different audience. This conversation is vital in expanding the vocabulary of indie and alternative rock; as the genres mature, it’s important we continue to look outside of them for both influence and direction. It’s good to escape the echo chamber.

RAC used to stand for Remix Artist Collective, but these days is the sole project of André Allen Anjos. Anjos is one of the best producers around. Don’t miss out on this one — I suspect I’ll be featuring more RAC here very soon — perhaps when Part 2 hits in April.

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For the most part, the experimental musicianship on Close to the Glass exists only to serve the songs, meaning that this record is their best one in a long time and one that just about everybody can appreciate. The general consensus is that Kong seems to be the big hit on this record, and I’d agree with that. It’s so catchy. Casino and 7-Hour-Drive are both great too, but Casino is a quieter track. Signals reminds me of the experimental musicianship of Flying Lotus at times.

All that being said, Run Run Run is the emotional capper of the album for me. It’s a tremendous mark of the band’s growth and maturity that we can talk about the emotional heights of a Notwist album. Even when they play through the staple instrumental track, it never feels as if they’re drifting too far from pop-rock. For a band who often struggles to maintain my interest beyond an intellectual level, Close to the Glass is a refreshing change of pace.

It might also be the best Notwist album yet.

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If I had to pick my own preferred single from the record, I’d choose Urban Photograph, which is catchy but still dynamic. That being said, I’m pretty sure Freak is the actual single, and it’s not a bad choice — like one commenter on Rdio said, it’s “9 words over and over.”

I love Kids & Love, which is just beautiful. And We Should Go To France is just so catchy and involving, while Winter’s Calling tugs on the heart. Urban Cone sounds amazing with big speakers and is just great to dance to. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

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