Actor
by St. Vincent
  • Record Label: 4AD
  • Release Date: May 5, 2009
User Score
8.7

Universal acclaim- based on 146 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 136 out of 146
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 146
  3. Negative: 6 out of 146

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  1. clem666
    May 7, 2021
    6
    Effective writing, self-awareness as impressive as it is honestly profound, even if St. Vincent takes her time to advance step by step. Sufjan Steven's inspiration appears quite clearly throughout the record in the melodies, the structure and the themes tackled. But the overall chaos and disjointed prints truly constitute St. Vincent's identity.

    This sense of stretch and distortion    Effective writing, self-awareness as impressive as it is honestly profound, even if St. Vincent takes her time to advance step by step. Sufjan Steven's inspiration appears quite clearly throughout the record in the melodies, the structure and the themes tackled. But the overall chaos and disjointed prints truly constitute St. Vincent's identity.

    This sense of stretch and distortion characterizes "Actor," as many of the tracks don't seem to fit on the same track list. The constant inconsistent make this project sound drafty and overly messy even if it was surely the point of its creation. In addition to that St. Vincent has consciously made some weird and unpleasant artistic choices like over-compressing the drums on several tracks (like 'The Strangers', at the end of 'Save Me From What I Want', 'The Neighbors', 'Black Rainbow' or even in 'Actor Out of Work') which contributes to the terrible noisy mix of sounds that her voice goes through. This totally erases the magic that she has hardly contributed to create little by little upstream. Yet there are truly impressive and inspiring tracks along the way (as 'Just the Same But Brand New' or 'The Party').    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

70
#70 Best Album of 2009
48
#48 Most Discussed Album of 2009
45
#45 Most Shared Album of 2009

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
81

Universal acclaim - based on 27 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 27
  3. Negative: 0 out of 27
  1. Blender
    80
    Her second album is rowdier and less well-behaved, and thus better, although the template is the same: breathy coos and lush strings intermittently blown apart by distorted guitar blasts.
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  2. musicOMH.com
    80
    On first listen it feels like the musical equivalent of doodling a massive cock-and-balls on a Rembrandt, but eventually this reveals itself as the first moment of compositional brilliance on an album packed full of them.
    Read full review
  3. No Ripcord
    80
    Quite eponymously, the album is a grand performance, and one whose stagecraft is the sole work of a brilliant ringmaster in Clark.
    Read full review
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