Album Review: Daddy's Home by St. Vincent

If we could ask Schrödinger his thoughts on St. Vincent , he would undoubtedly find some way of explaining how, in one of the infinite alternate realities, Annie Clark has achieved the commercial success she deserves. "Critics? Schmitics," he'd say, violently gesticulating in the direction of the nearest cat. "Cash is what makes the world go round, and this woman deserves to be rich." Rather than going to those philosophical lengths, taxing our COVID and Brexit-battered brains any more than necessary, we can simply turn to Clark's fantastic new record Daddy's Home, because it sounds like money.

Full Review >>

For someone who so lovingly constructs a different persona every time she releases a new album, Annie Clark has never been afraid to shy away from the more personal details of her life. Her last St Vincent album, MASSEDUCTION, drew inspiration from her relationship with supermodel Cara Delevingne (and her resulting tabloid fame) while 2011’s Strange Mercy touched upon a bout of depression she’d experienced. Daddy’s Home, as the album’s pre-publicity has not shied away from informing us, takes its title from Clark’s father who was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2010 for his role in a multi-million dollar fraud scheme, and released at the end of 2019.

Full Review >>

Annie Clark has become a modern guitar hero precisely for the fact that half the time, you'd hardly know she was playing guitar. From the blast of purple distortion that detonates in the middle of "Northern Lights" to the pixelated serpent that twists and slithers across the back half of "Rattlesnake," her guitar playing is unfamiliar and difficult, a subversion of the self-indulgent axe-mastery of yore. In its physical shape on stage -- gripped tightly and pulled close to the body -- the guitar is familiar, a bone thrown to the cantankerous rockists that suggests maybe guitar music isn't really dead and gone.

Full Review >>

Throughout music history, there have always been those artists fascinated by the "what next." These pioneers have existed in every decade, every movement, and every genre you can care to think of, constantly on the lookout for something utterly new, completely different, and unapologetically refreshing. It's an attribute that all-too-often alienates them from the audience of the day, with their reputations only fully realized with the passing of time and the evaluations of the generations that come after them. In terms of existing outside of her own time, the recent output of St.

Full Review >>

It's impossible to second-guess Annie Clark. St. Vincent's art-pop full length 'MASSEDUCTION' underwent several re-workings, from her own 'MASSEDUCATION' - which re-framed the songs within a spartan piano context - to a full-on multi-artist remix project chaired by Russian producer Nina Kraviz. Finishing 2019 by producing Sleater-Kinney's album 'The Center Won't Hold', Annie Clark's virtuosity suggested that she was capable of anything.

Full Review >>