A MODERN-DAY PIONEER AT THE PEAK OF HER POWERS
IN HER BRILLIANT NEW ALBUM, ST. VINCENT’S ECLECTICISM AND LEFTFIELD APPROACH TO GUITAR HAS ECHOES OF JONI MITCHELL, PRINCE AND DAVID GILMOUR
There’s nobody quite like Annie Clark. Since Marry Me, her striking 2007 debut as St. Vincent, she has captivated an ever-growing audience with her experimental, melodic blend of art rock, hip indie and electronica. An artist of rare integrity and vision, she reinvents herself for every record with a boldly individual and hyper-fashionable look; like Lady Gaga, like Bowie. This Bowie comparison comes up a lot, as cultural commentators seek shorthand for her broad, progressive range (Kate Bush is also predictably mentioned).
Clark’s numerous accolades include the Grammy for Best Rock Song for the title track to 2017’s Masseduction, and she’s a real polymath, too. She’s a versatile, emotive vocalist, bassist, keyboardist and percussionist, and her approach to guitar is leftfield, imaginative and richly textured. Ernie Ball even invited her to design her own Music Man guitar, and the quirkily-shaped St. Vincent signature model can also be found in the axe racks of Dave Grohl, Beck and Taylor Swift.
There’s a pervasive 70s, New York soul vibe to Daddy’s Home, her sixth record, beautifully produced by Jack Antonoff. The title track features some gloriously laid-back and simple flanged guitars, wah-wah and – one of the album’s signature sounds – electric sitar. This exotic twang evokes the soundworld of soul acts like The Delfonics and Stevie Wonder, and is present on Down And Out Downtown, a funky, Lydian-flavoured piece with some unpredictable chord progressions, languid bassline and evocative electric piano.
The psychedelic Live The Dream is a proggy trip comparable to Pink Floyd at their most swimmy – Clark’s tasteful, spare guitar solo is packed with woozy bends, and she gets modal with a tone-rich exploration of the solo’s cycling C-A chords, switching between Lydian and Mixolydian respectively to jazzy effect.
Previously, she supplied her own backing vocals, but this time Lynne Fiddmont and Kenya Hathaway (daughter of soul legend Donny) bring a rootsy, girl-group counterpoint to the whole record. Case in point is The Melting Of The Sun, a tune ripe with clavinet and – another Daddy’s Home trademark
– lap steel guitar. The song celebrates Clark’s female heroes, Nina Simone, Tori Amos and Joni Mitchell, and there’s a hint of Mitchell in the acoustic guitar of At The Garden Party, with Clark’s nimble arpeggios driving the beautiful Somebody Like Me.
Even when she uses a clichéd chord progression it’s with artistic intent: My Baby Wants A Baby rests on the poppy C/AM/DM/G, but it’s a dark song about crippling apathy (“I want to play guitar, make all my meals in microwaves...”). And with jazzy major-seventh chords and Gilmour-esque lap steel slides in The Laughing Man, Prince-like funk in Pay Your Way In Pain, and shades of both Trent Reznor and Steely Dan in Down (complete with auto-wah guitar and, yep, more sitar), St. Vincent’s latest adds up to another high-protein musical experience.
The most organic and soulful work of Clark’s career, Daddy’s Home is the sound of a modern-day pioneer at the peak of her powers. There really is nobody else quite like her.
Grant Moon