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Candy-coated indie doesn't quite pop

Heart murmurs - Jeremy Messersmith

You'd think that mixing indie and pop music is unnecessary. It would be like adding a dollop of sadness to an Oreo McFlurry on a beautiful day. Pop music is inherently happy, generally vapid and accessible. It elicits thoughts of bright colours and teenage dreams. Indie music eschews all things mainstream and has an understated emotional melodrama to it.

On his new album, Heart Murmurs, American indie-pop artist Jeremy Messer-smith manages to fuse the two rather well. His voice carries just enough pathos to make him more believable than Justin Bieber, but not so much as to convince you that he has unplumbed depths of vocal talent. Lyrically, songs like Bridges, Steve and Ghost are impressive but they are let down by the clichéd production. Teenage hipsters will love it but grown- ups might find it a bit too much like watching a philosophical episode of Hannah Montana.

St Vincent -St Vincent

Fresh from her collaborative album with legendary Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, St Vincent gives us her most abrasive and brilliant album yet.

Annie Clark perfects her craft and sharpens her signature sound. It's full of warped guitar licks and gritty, ballsy bass riffs , while her sweet voice sings songs that are cheeky and sometimes slightly psychotic. St Vincent is the sonic equivalent of going to a freak show: it's fun but has a twisted, creepy heart.

Standout tracks include the funky Digital Witness and the bass-heavy groove of Every Tear Disappears. The album's calmest moment is the lush and gentle I Prefer Your Love. Sound-wise it's reminiscent of Sinead O'Connor's Nothing Compares To You, except it's a happy love song ("It's true, I prefer your love to Jesus", she sings in the chorus).

Bring Me Your Loves is one of the best songs of her career, a militant anthem to drown all in her love ("Bring me all your loves, I wanna love them too ya know").

St Vincent probably won't ever be a megastar, but her latest album will excite fans and win her plenty of new ones.