Come Cut Me Open

St. Vincent "Surgeon"

"Surgeon" is maybe a strange way of introducing listeners to St. Vincent's third album Strange Mercy. Though it provides a few eye-opening "wow moments," particularly during the instrumental climax, it's something of an outlier on the record. Most of the songs on Strange Mercy have a very active tone, with Clark singing from the perspective of characters who are almost oppressively extroverted – people who make eye contact with such forced assurance that their gaze could blow a hole through your face like Cyclops. "Surgeon" is more passive and sickly, with a fragile protagonist who begs for the "best, finest surgeon" to "come cut me open." It's an eerie, ambiguous piece that alternates between moments when the sounds seem to float in a perfect, serene balance and others when it falls into uncomfortable disarray. Clark's climax isn't quite cathartic, but she definitely makes it so you feel relieved when it's over. Buy it from Amazon.