St. Vincent - St. Vincent

St. Vincent
St. Vincent
Loma Vista (2014)
By Alli Smith

Singer-songwriter Annie Clark, otherwise known as St. Vincent, recently released her fourth solo album. Many have praised the self-titled record, yet some long time fans have been critical of it.

The kind of album that can draw such diverse and strong reactions from people is bound to be memorable. Every song on St. Vincent has its own unique sound, but at the same time has a consistent tone.

St. Vincent discusses the idea of living in the digital era on this record. The track “Digital Witness” brings up the fact that people in the new millennium feel the need to document everything happening in their lives, and that if they aren’t getting approval for every single thing they do, it’s not worth doing. This same idea is presented in the song “Huey Newton,” where St. Vincent sings, “I’m entombed in the shrine of zeroes and ones.” Annie Clark is acknowledging that our Internet presence will outlive our real lives, which is a disturbing reality.

The tone of St. Vincent is generally frantic and anxious. On the track “Bring Me Your Loves,” she chants “bring me your loves, all of your loves, I want to love them too you know” repeatedly and hurriedly. Other songs battle the idea of how to approach feelings of loneliness and growing older. On the song “Rattlesnake,” Clark asks herself if she is “the only one in the only world.” The closing track, “Severed Crossed Fingers,” has Clark revealing her conflicts between old age and youth, and once again how to live in a world overtaken by technology.

Musically, St. Vincenti> is Annie Clark’s catchiest record to date. The hooks and refrains are memorable thanks to her use of synths, layered vocals, and robotic sounding beats. The guitar and vocals sound distorted on most of the tracks, but this only benefits the record and adds to the technological dystopian theme lingering throughout.

Despite some fans’ disappointment with the fact that Annie Clark doesn’t want to make the same record over and over again, St. Vincent’s latest release is one of her strongest yet.