St. Vincent’s shifting art-rock burns bright
St. Vincent “All Born Screaming” (Virgin)
St. Vincent is on fire. On her seventh fulllength studio album, Annie Clark, who performs as St. Vincent, unleashes her broad range of art-rock gifts, from the crackling ember of her textured vocals to the raging infernos of swirling, epic orchestration.
St. Vincent canonized her name in the 2010s with twitchy, dense compositions. On the 2021 release, “Daddy’s Home,” her last album, she embraced a looser, 1970s-infused sleaze funk. “All Born Screaming” continues a trend toward more accessible territory, seamlessly spinning elements of acid-jazz, industrial grind, retro-futurism and heavy distortion into apocalyptic walls of sound.
The St. Vincent persona is a restless shape shifter, and the album art of this iteration — tailored shirt, pencil skirt, the artist alone and in flames — is an apt representation. “All Born Screaming” is Clark’s first self-produced release, and she is the primary songwriter and musician throughout, playing multiple instruments on every track.
The album includes excellent and meticulously placed contributions from musicians who include Justin Meldal-johnsen, Rachel Eckroth, Cian Riordan, David Ralicke, Cate Le Bon and Dave Grohl. But this is Annie Clark’s show, and, as in the cover image, she is buttoned up and executing a delicate dance between complete control and selfimmolation.
The first few tracks set the stage. Opener “Hell is Near” hits like Enya with an ethereal delivery of the lines, “Empty cup and a can full of marigolds / half burned candle a picture pinned on the wall,” before shifting gears into a cool groove and building to a huge, spacy outro.
“Reckless” follows, starting intimate and quickly upping the stakes. She sings, “Stranger come in my path / I’ll eat you up tear you limb from limb or I’ll fall in love” as the song works toward its explosive crescendo.
“Broken Man” continues to raise the temperature. The song features three drummers, including Dave Grohl, and it opens with bonks and clanks reminiscent of Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer,” and the provocative lyrics “on the street I’m a king-size killer / I can make your kingdom come.” Clark’s vocal command on this song is terrific, starting sultry and steadily gaining strength and intensity as the industrial-rock cacophony builds.
The album is generally heavy, but it offers a campy breather with “Violent Times.” Here she channels the classic John Barry theme composition for the 1964 James Bond film “Goldfinger.”
“The Power’s Out” starts with a programmed drum break evocative of David
Bowie ’s apocalyptic classic “Five Years.” The lyrics and waltz construction consciously echo its inspiration, with slice-of-life vignettes as people come to grips with impending catastrophe. “It was pouring like a movie,” Clark sings. “Every stranger looked like they knew me.”
It is an oddball track within this collection, but it stands as a fascinating Rashomon-like alternate perspective on Bowie’s storytelling.
The album ends with the title track. It starts uncharacteristically upbeat, with a guitar sound falling somewhere between Paul Simon and the Smiths’ Johnny Marr. It changes gears midway,
building to a climactic chant of the title words, “All Born Screaming” over spacey synth, as if Gregorian monks infiltrated a laser show.
It is a fitting end, returning the listener back to the mysterious terror with which we all enter this world.
Pet Shop Boys “Nonetheless” (Parlaphone / Warner Bros.)
Once upon a time, on Pet Shop Boys’ first single, “West End Girls,” vocalist Neil Tennant sang the lines, “We’ve got no future / We’ve got no past / Here today, built to last.”
Fifteen studio records later, there possibly isn’t a better verse that captures the timelessness of the stone-faced British pop duo that appears to, indeed, be built to last.
Known for their synthesizer-backed dance tracks with emotionally resonant lyrics, Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe created their own style of electric pop — influenced by glam rock and disco — that has stood the test of time with consistent releases over the years. Their latest album, “Nonetheless,” falls right in line with the pattern.
Tennant’s simplesounding vocals tell stories of loneliness, longing and love, elevated by bumping electronic beats and orchestral harmonies in this bittersweet masterpiece. Lowe’s synthesizer skills bring each track to life, as always, and the dichotomy between heart-wrenching lyrics and dance-inducing instrumentals is a poignant reflection of human emotion.
Catchy track “Why Am I Dancing?” is a perfect example. Head-bopping beats and triumphant trumpets and strings accompany the lyrics, “Why am I dancing when I’m so alone? / Maybe I can celebrate on my own.”
Nostalgia for another time and place seeps throughout “Nonetheless.” Tennant reflects on starting out on his own in “New London boy,” and he yearns for a feeling just out of reach in “A new bohemia.”
“The secret of happiness” feels like falling in love in an old Hollywood movie with a sweeping orchestral arrangement, while final track “Love is the law” takes a more ominous turn with lyrics describing the feeling such as: “It waits and watches / Weaves and dodges / Catch it like a cold / No one is immune.”
Packed with gems, “Nonetheless” is sure to delight both old and new fans, and shows that the duo isn’t slowing down any time soon.