St Vincent - ‘All Born Screaming’

27th April 2024

Annie Clark, aka St Vincent, is one of those artists who has become ever-present. but retaining an ability to come out with records that can surprise you. Off the back of retro masterpiece Daddy’s Home, she now brings us All Born Screaming, an offering more standard of St Vincent’s sonic vocabulary that holds many dramatic delights nonetheless.

We kick off with the expansive, 70s-tinged ‘Hell Is Near’, a multi-section opener with strings and Fleetwood Mac-esque guitars. It tranitions directly into ‘Reckless’, and operatic, crescendos to a crashing outro with shades of Iggy Pop’s ‘Funtime’. ‘

Broken Man’ is a psychotic rocker with a chord progression Kurt Cobain would have been proud of, set over crooked drum machine beat and groovy fuzz bass line. ‘Flea’ is the Annie Clark we all an love, with dischordant and edgy guitar riffs set over her strangely optimistic alto caterwaul.

‘Big Time Nothing’ is a piece of infectious funk electronica whose beat and melody are instantly memorable. ‘Violent Times’ sounds ike Clark’s audition to write a Bond theme, and seriously raises the question of yeah, why hasn’t anyone asked her to write one yet? She is clearly more than capable with this sultry number. ‘The Power’s Out’ is a haunting ballad about train station suicide, with a searing guitar outro that’ll leave you balling your eyes out. Eponymous track ‘All Born Screaming’ closes the record, a jaunty number with delay guitars oscillating into oblivion, coalescing into a beautifully orchestrated choral outro.

All in all, the album is a triumph - a skilful blend of melody, dissonance, aggression and vulnerability. It borrows slivers of influence from the 1970s and 80s, with post-punk, electronica and funk rearing their heads. The record was made to be listened to in sequence: it is beautifully consistent throughout and no track stands out like a sore thumb, each the songs flow into each other pretty seamlessly. Annie Clark has given us another fantastic piece of work, but at this point we expect nothing less.