Description
A person whose words are so potent that they cause the people and beings around them to vibrate is said to have anbspldquosilver tongue.rdquonbspItrsquos apt, then, that Mackenzie Scottmdashwho has spent the 2010s making boundary pushing pop music under hernbspTORRESnbspmonikermdashhas chosen to call her fourth album, and first release on Merge, just that. Recorded at OrsquoDeer in Brooklyn, New York, Silver Tongue is a fullscale realization of the world Scott has created overnbspTORRESrsquonbsplast few albums. Even when singing in more subdued tones, Scottrsquos voice is fervent, her lyrics stirring and unyielding as she draws from both the divine and the everyday. Itrsquos also the firstnbspTORRESnbsprecord produced solely by Scott. After having shared production duties on her first three albums, the latter two alongside PJ Harvey collaborator Rob Ellis, she found the process liberatingnbspldquoI made exactly the record I want, and it feels very me.rsquordquoSilver Tongue fastidiously chronicles the impulses that make up desire from the dreamy first blushes of infatuation through the slightly terrifying wonder that accompanies connection with another. In between, Scott wrestles with the highs and lows of whatnbspldquobeing in loverdquonbspmight mean over heady guitars and swirling synths. While potent vocal hooks punctuate songs like the sparklingnbspldquoDressing America,rdquonbspwhich combines New Wave glitter with hovering frustration, and the broodingnbspldquoGood Grief,rdquonbspwhich gently pokes at the idea of fetishized sadness, the knottiness lurking underneath reflects Scottrsquos realtime processing of her emotions while making the record.Silver Tonguersquos musical world is vast and at times seemingly infinite. Edgeoftheworld synths add gravity to the vulnerability ofnbspldquoTwo of Everything,rdquonbspand refracted guitars offer a gnarled counterpoint to Scottrsquos increased determination at the end ofnbspldquoLast Forest.rdquonbspOnnbspldquoGracious Day,rdquonbspone ofnbspTORRESrsquo most forthright love songs, Scottrsquos voice hovers over a starlit landscape in a way that transcends the mundane and enters the otherworldly as she sings.nbspTORRESrsquo music has long navigated the space between the physical and the metaphysical, and Silver Tongue faces that conflict headon, examining the ways in which the actions of others can stir up deepseated feelings and seemingly alter the space in which one exists.
