Silver Tongue - Torres: Review
AKA Mackenzie Scott is an American singer-songwriter who first emerged with a self-titled record in 2013, before really breaking into the indie scene in 2015 with her second album, the critically acclaimed Sprinter. After a three year gap of releases, the longest of her career so far, she has geared up to drop Silver Tongue her 4th record on the back of 4 singles over the last two years.
Review By Lavender:
Like many people I first fell in love with Mackenzie's music when I first heard her breakout 2015 record Sprinter. A unique and captivating piece of indie folk that saw her garnering critical praise for her expert lyricism and emotional songwriting. Unlike many though, I saw her through on a big stylistic shift into her third record Three Futures, a personal favorite of mine albeit one I can understand why some people didn't quite take to. The sound of her music just got so much more interesting to me as she introduces punchier anthemic percussion and spacey chamber pop electric guitars to her already impassioned songwriting. After hearing the singles for this record and seeing them receive more positive reception among the indie community I was anticipating her to make a more formal return to her singer-songwriter roots. Silver Tongue definitely isn't that simple of a step back but with songwriting as sharp as ever and a newfound confrontational performance style Torres assembles some of her sharpest songs yet.
What I guess you could call the lead single to the record came out all the way back in 2018 and I enjoyed it quite a bit up until the point it was taken down from streaming services. Thankfully Two Of Everything makes a return on the album with what I think may be a new louder mix, regardless I Still enjoy the track. The vocals are so intimate and captivating even though they don't really command your attention as the electric guitars wash blissfully over the track. It sounds like a lesbian worship love song and I am absolutely living for it.
The remaining trilogy of singles came out much more recently after the record had already been announced starting late last year with the opening track Good Scare. The percussion on the song absolutely explodes out of the mix and Mackenzie holds nothing back in her emotional performance. It serves as a huge tone setter for the record and summons all the sentimentality of a true slow song without ever really slowing down too much. The next single was Gracious Day one of the records only true ballads and a very good one at that. The lyrics are absolutely fantastic and once again Torres brings it vocally particularly on the hook. The soft guitar plucking is a pretty refreshing change from the rest of the album and this track just stands as an above average take on the singer-songwriter approach. The last single released right in the lead up to the album was Dressing America which almost has a touch of heartland rock to the instrumental. Mackenzie squashes this pretty quickly though with her commanding vocals on a particularly killer hook. The only realy issue I have with the song is the bridge, which doesn't stick around very long but is really just a slightly less interesting version of the hook.
With such a great foundation to build on the record really could have been an instant classic, and while it may not quite hit that high there is plenty more worthwhile here. Last Forrest is a really interesting track that throws me back to the last Torres record Three Futures. There is a beautiful static that hangs over this track reminding me of some of Radiohead's rock and electronica crossovers. The way the track explodes into the chorus with the wailing electric guitar is impassioned and bold and a risk that really pays off. Records Of Your Tenderness opens up with a huge swelling chamber pop sound but erupts into one of the most textured and unique instrumentals on the entire record that features squelching synth lines and snapping percussion. The vocals go through a transformation from breathy into full on stadium sized belting and the track is all the better as a result.
Good Grief is a track I absolutely loved parts of. It features some of the best lyricism on the entire record particularly on the hook. But I'm not really sure the jammy guitars and punchy percussion was the right direction to go for the song because it is just all so loud and confrontational. While it does make some of the delivery of the lines particularly badass I think the track could have been even more impactful with a less in more mentality. A Few Blue Flowers is a decent track but it never really kicks off. There is some serious build up towards the hook but the track just kind of maintains its energy throughout and it makes the emotional changes of pace a little less potent. Finally the closing track Silver Tongue is the closing track which features a killer instrumental headlined by some dreamy keys and a huge percussion breakdown, but its also one of the only points on the record where the vocals can be kind of hit or miss. Mackenzie definitely pushes out of her range a few times and dulls some of the tracks most exciting moments, but for the most part the song goes over well.
On Silver Tongue Torres has heard all the critiques of her music, and chooses to ignore them and continue making indie folk with an uncompromising attitude and no fear of confrontation. In a time when indie music is as saturated with singer-songwriter record as ever before Mackenzie continues to find great ways to make her sound unique, impassioned and powerful. With the unique pairing of intimate vocals and powerful instrumentation the record may not be for everyone but I've been consistently pleased with it time and time again, and have a feeling it may be one of my favorite indie records of the year. 8/10
