St. Vincent – St. Vincent (Review)

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St. Vincent, a.k.a. Annie Clark, had many expectations to live up to with her new self-titled album, which is her fourth solo full-length album. Since her first album, St. Vincent has largely been regarded as the representative for a genre of her own, virtually incomparable to other any other artist. Her music combines so many different elements that, after a while, her unpredictability becomes predictable, but without seeming worn out. She does not come across as someone pushing the limits for the sake of pushing the limits. Whenever she releases new music, exactly how it will sound is completely up in the air beforehand. Afterward, however, the music feels like it was perfect for its moment in time. Between her musical characteristics, lyrics, and her general demeanor, St. Vincent’s music can alter your perception of the world, but she presents change in a way that seems completely natural and ready to happen.

So, even with all that weight on her shoulders, St. Vincent’s fourth solo album proves successful, and is worth listening through several times. The album has a number of catchy fast and mid-tempo songs, such as “Rattlesnake,” Birth in Reverse,” and “Digital Witness.” Each of the songs tackles a different issue with enigmatic lyrics, which are paradoxically both straightforward and vague. Recent interviews with Clark have revealed that “Rattlesnake” recounts a true event in her life, in which she found herself running from a rattlesnake, alone, and naked. The song drills through the memory with adrenaline, but does not evoke fear. Nor does it evoke happiness. The opener to the album reintroduces Clark’s style of being ambiguous about her feelings, while also leaving room for an array of emotions, without omitting too much information to be interesting.

Several songs in, “Digital Witness” begins, seeming heavily influenced by David Byrne. It carries thorny horn blasts, a danceable but jerky rhythm, and selective guitar strumming. The song makes those aged musical experiments sound youthful and energetic, while the lyrics tackle modern-day anxieties about information and privacy.

While the beginning of the album is fun to listen to, and the melodies are memorable enough to get stuck in your head, Clark really cuts loose, for the first time, a little over half-way through “Huey Newton.” The song, named after the activist and Black Panther co-founder, starts slow, almost groggily, but opens up with a badass fuzzy guitar riff, similar to Clark’s guitar outbursts on past albums. Clark supposedly wrote the song after hallucinating having conversation with Newton, which, if true, demonstrates her strange and impressive ability to turn anything into a piece of art without seeming like she just wants to mess with people.

Most of the album, while incorporating kooky images and scenarios, contains layers of meaning, which could be interpreted in different ways. “I Prefer Your Love,” for example, is a song that could be about any kind of relationship, but St. Vincent’s instrumentation, and Clark’s vulnerable singing, suggest that the song is more than some cliché love song. Whoever she sings to is really important to Clark. Some say it’s about her mother, but the song is compelling because it can mean something different to every person who listens to it.
While each song on the album could stand alone as a worthwhile track, several are a little forgettable in the context of the whole album, and in the context of Clark’s larger body of work. “Bring Me Your Loves” and “Psychopath” both tell stories that are neither boring nor straightforward, but they fall a little flat put up against the brilliance of the rest of the album.

The album closes with a heartbreaker. “Severed Crossed Fingers” wades by with a slow pace, paired with Clark’s drawn-out lyrics, making the song feel tragic and upsetting. Clark sings about watching someone grow, and fail, and try really hard to make it through the ugliness of the world. It’s not whiny and attention-seeking, though. Rather, it seems like an honest confessional, like someone exposing her true feelings and just hoping not to be harassed for her honesty. In that sense, “Severed Crossed Fingers” is an appropriate conclusion to the album because it represents a looming anxiety, which enriches the album, rather than draining it.

Rating: W-P-G-3/4

RIYL: Andrew Bird, David Bowie, Animal Collective, Talking Heads

Key Tracks: “Birth in Reverse,” “Digital Witness,” “Huey Newton”

About Claire Schroeder

Hey, my name is Claire and I've been at WPGU since 2012. I like baseball, food, and reading alone in a dimly lit and slightly chilly room.

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