St. Vincent Daddy’s Home

Lorna Vista, out May 14 ★★★★★

Annie Clark aka St. Vincent offers plenty of her brand of classy, clipped electronica while reaching into the influence of seventies soul, Pink Floyd and er… Sheena Easton on her seventh album. Its title refers to the release of her father after nine years’ incarceration for fraud. Her relief at his liberty, her anger at his transgression informs songs such as the title track as well as the playful Pay Your Way In Pain. Three short mainly instrumental interludes entitled Humming reference the contrasting emotions and mysteries of childhood. On one she sings ‘Listening in the kitchen, my mother fixing, something missing.’ Pink Floyd thread through the textures of Live In The Dream and lyrically in Melting. My Baby Wants A Baby is jollied along on the melody of Sheena Easton’s 9 To 5 of all things. Never constricted by something as vulgar as expectations, St. Vincent continues to be one of the most vital artists of this generation.