The 26-year-old Brooklyn singer-songwriter Annie Clark, the former Polyphonic Spree guitarist who records as St. Vincent, is a sly one: The deception begins with her looks — little-girl-lost doe eyes peering out beneath curly coiffure — and extends to the tuneful, precise pop songs that she sings in a breathy near-whisper. But beneath the plushness of her terrific second album there are drolleries, black humor, a cosmopolitan's jaundiced take on romance. "I threw flowers in your face/On my sister's wedding day," she coos in "The Strangers." Tour-de-force arrangements encompass Euro-chanteuserie, rackety synth-pop beats and big, swooning ballads, often in the same song. It's gorgeous and arresting — and, always, sneaky.