ST. VINCENT, ALL BORN SCREAMING
“Give it all away, you give it all away / Cause the whole world’s watching you,” begins Annie Clark, also famously known as St. Vincent, on her latest album, All Born Screaming. From the tracks that I heard her release in anticipation of the album release—compelling, but decidedly industrial—I was not too excited for this album, to be honest, as industrial is not my favorite genre of music. But I had heard people say that it was a “return to form” for St. Vincent, as well as a characteristic artistic rebirth, and so I gave it a chance.
I will say it is one of the more moving records that I have heard in a long time, and it has plenty of industrial touches, but plenty of the art rock Annie that won me over to her music. Written in the wake of a lot of literal death and loss in her life, it is as heavy a record as you can get, especially considering St. Vincent’s pop grandeur. And that pop grandeur is on full display on this record as well. It is an impeccable balance of vulnerable and bombastic, poppy and alternative, celebratory and totally dejected.