As opening statements go, it certainly leaves an impression: “Heather I’m sorry that your mother / Diseased in the brain / Cannot recall your name,” is how 24-year-old Mackenzie Scott, AKA Torres, chooses to begin her second album. Such lyrical jolts are frequent, as Scott takes inspiration from her past – in particular, her Baptist upbringing and subsequent rejection of it – for an album that thrives on going to intensely personal places. The title track, for instance, deals with a pastor who “Lost his position / Went down for pornography”. If the lyrics are revealing and off-kilter, the music is not always so. Producer Rob Ellis, who played on some of PJ Harvey’s early albums, helps hone Sprinter’s 90s alt-rock sound, but it’s a rather familiar one, and there’s not always enough melody to help these intimate stories take flight. The St Vincent-alike Cowboy Guilt, with its malfunctioning, robotic riffs, and Ferris Wheel’s seven-minutes of ambient guitar textures make for more interesting sonic paths.
