St. Vincent

St. Vincent’s Annie Clark has always had somewhat of an alien quality, with her long limbs and newly bleached blonde hair, so it’s no surprise that her latest eponymous effort sounds like it’s been recorded on a space station or on the galaxy level of Mario Kart.

The opening track, ‘Rattlesnake’ is a glorious 8-bit masterpiece taken from the Lady Gaga school of monosyllabic choruses, and showcases the jazzy isometric beat she’s learned from her previous collaboration with Talking Heads’ David Byrne. The next track, and perhaps the one that stands out the most, ‘Birth in Reverse’, shows Clark’s longstanding ability to combine melancholic lyrics (“Oh what an ordinary day/Take out the garbage, masturbate”) with snazzy grooves that are uncanny but ultimately very danceable. This track sets the precedent for the album’s biting social commentary of modern day life in a technology-filled world.

Clark is definitely and effortlessly going against the grain as a means of separating herself from any other artist.

‘Digital Witness’, the album’s second single, parodies that Snapchat-every-moment-of-my-party-instead-of-actually-experiencing-it-in-the-moment culture that we have become so heavily involved in, with the lyrics “What’s the point of even sleeping/If I can’t show it, if you can’t see me/What’s the point of doing anything?”. The accompanying video, which has Clark staring dead-eyed as hoards of uniformed workers build things around her and march to the same beat, is an apt symbol of what she’s trying to accomplish with this album. Clark is definitely and effortlessly going against the grain as a means of separating herself from any other artist.

What is so special and precious about Annie Clark is that she’s worked so hard to create a sound and  message which is unmistakably her own. ‘I Prefer Your Love’, ‘Huey Newton’ and ‘Bring Me Your Loves’ are admittedly a step away from the likes of her previous solo record Strange Mercy, but their lovely melodies and crunching riffs can only belong on a St. Vincent album. While being one of the most talented and tragically underrated guitarists around at the moment, there is never any sense of showboating or needless solo-ing in St. Vincent, and that is perhaps what makes this album already one of the best of the year; every note sounds like it needs to be there, no beat is superfluous. Perhaps this is what tipped Clark to take the Beyoncé-esque decision to name her album after herself so late in her career. She has spent years channelling a very specific sound and identity, and this album appears to be its fruition, as Clark looks proudly and regally on from the album cover.

MP3: ‘Digital Witness’, ‘Birth in Reverse’

Sounds Like: Talking Heads, Fiona Apple