The regal countenance of St. Vincent’s fourth self-titled solo album cover reflects the poise and confidence of Annie Clark’s otherworldly, powerful and playful music. This assured album marks her incredible progression as a unique and highly skilled artist and it brims with the kind of fearless honesty that her fans have become accustomed to.
Complex compositions sit proudly alongside lyrics that scrutinise both the modern world and Clark’s personal experiences. The opening song "Rattlesnake" recalls a time when Clark threw caution to the wind, stripped naked, wandered through the desert and happened upon a snake. The adrenalin high of running wildly alone and discovering your own mortality is expertly crafted into a fuzzy, soaring experience. Her vicious guitar riffs, electronic melodies and horns possess a hypnotic and graceful brutality.
Self-realisation and being mistress of your own domain is a theme which trickles through the core of this intense and challenging album – something which it has in common with Janelle Monae’s award-winning The ArchAndroid. Both artists are inspired by their cultural surroundings and have turned their albums into their own odd worlds ripe for analysis.
Clark’s technical prowess wows throughout but it is the tenderness of her words that really stick with you." I Prefer Your Love" is a perfect example of her mellow contemplation and is a song all about her mother. “But all the good in me is because of you” she poignantly declares in this hymn-like ode.
Clark brings her album to a close with a song inspired by a line from a Lorrie Moore short story, called "Severed Crossed Fingers" which bursts with twisted, gory lyrics such as “spitting our guts from their gears, draining our spleen over years.” Her downbeat anthem of hope and loss is a cathartic high on a vibrant album packed full of observant and witty musings.
Overleaf: watch the "Digital Witness" music video
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