I’ve been slacking in my audiophile tendencies. Simply put, I have not been buying as many records this year, as compared to years past. I figure some of you might be experiencing a lack of new music yourselves. Good, we’re in this together. With that in mind, here’s some new music you might have missed over the past couple of months.

St. Vincent; Actor:

From lions and tigers and bears, to a sleeping princess, Annie Clark aka St. Vincent took inspiration from a collection of her favorite films such as “The Wizard of Oz,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Badlands” and more to drive her most recent output, Actor.

Originally released in May of this year, Actor is St. Vincent’s sophomore recording under the pseudonym. From the first track on the record, “The Strangers,” a sense of rushing fear, quite like a nervous dream you cannot escape or wake from, settles in with whimsical orchestration over lyrics: “Paint the black hole blacker.”

Forward motion carries the listener along, but a concrete notion of weary isn’t established until further inspection of the album. From the warnings in “Save Me From What I Want,” to a plea for help, accompanied by a punctuated string part, in “Marrow” with lyrics like: “Can you reach the spots that need oiling and fixing/ H-E-L-P/ Help me, help me,” it’s obvious there’s something not right in Kansas, Dorothy.

But please don’t get the wrong impression, this sometimes Disney-inspired album doesn’t necessarily deliver a soundtrack for “Sleeping Beauty’s” Aurora to sing along to.

Again, it’s something much darker. A word such as “haunting” seems trite, but nevertheless appropriate. A perfect example of this effect is where the esoteric meets seemingly “light” instruments such as the violin, keyboard and clarinet on track eight, “The Bed.”

If you can’t get over the “indie-darling” hype that attaches itself to St. Vincent, the initial listen to this complex construction of musicianship should change your mind; not to mention the numerous facets one discovers upon the second, third, fourth, etc., listen you will want to indulge in.

The Dead Weather; Horehound:

I love to sleep, however, I don’t think Jack White does.

The White Stripes front man, and guitarist for The Raconteurs, has yet another musical project to infiltrate our headphones: The Dead Weather’s Horehound. The rest of the group consists of The Kills’ Allison Mosshart, Raconteurs’ bassist Jack Lawrence and guitarist/organist Dean Ferita.

Originally released this past July, this album only took a reported three weeks to record, but don’t let that fact make you think the lack of time had any effect on the quality of the 11-tracks.

Mosshart helps build steam as her turn as a modern day film-noir front woman. She growls and taunts not only White’s accompanied vocals, but also the listener. On “Treat Me Like Your Mother” the pair’s blended vocals, play cat and mouse over scummy guitar rock (and I mean that in the best possible way), forcibly dragging you up and down each guitar part and blues-inspired bass line. White is no stranger to blues-rock comparisons, and while I believe this attribution is certainly fitting, Horehound infuses more of a grit associated with a long night spent with bourbon. You’re a little addled, but you can still sway to the music.

On “Will There Be Enough Water?”, the group asks “Just because you caught me/Does that make it a sin?” Well, I’m not sure, but that question will definitely not induce my much-desired sleep. In fact, it just might keep me up, listening and wanting more of The Dead Weather.

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