St Vincent – All Born Screaming

“We’re all born in protest, so screaming is what it means to be alive,” singer Annie Clark AKA St Vincent explained recently. All Born Screaming is her seventh studio album, and it follows the gorgeously psychedelic previous release Daddy’s Home, inspired by her father’s record collection from the 1970s.

St Vincent has gone from strength to strength as an artist since her first solo venture in 2007, and All Born Screaming is suitably ambitious – epic in its delivery with layers of wonderfully dark lyrics to get your teeth into. “I was bare / And your word was still warm in my hand,” she sings softly on the beautifully crafted opener Hell is Near. Heaven and hell and life and death have been behind some of history’s most impressive artworks, and they probably remain the most popular themes in art today. Their potential to inspire deliciously macabre creative works is infinite.

The album twists and winds around soft pianos and gritty, baritone guitar chords. St Vincent is known for the complex arrangement of her songs, and while they might be intricate, they still manage to be deeply satisfying to listen to, changing at the right moments and whisking the listener off happily in different directions. The second single off the record, Flea, grabs you with its unsettling lyrics: “When you start to itch and scratch and scream / Once I’m in, you can’t get rid of me,” and then delivers its grand rock ‘n’ roll soaked chorus – naturally featuring Dave Grohl on drums.

Violent Times stands out in the second half, with its glorious horn section and distinct air of James Bond about it. The similarity was not lost on the singer when asked about it in a recent interview: “It was not intentional when I was writing the song whatsoever, but I have noticed that and, yeah, I totally hear it.”

Musically, the record delivers on every level, blurring genres together and exploring new sounds while still managing to be uniquely and recognisably St Vincent. It’s an album that is unafraid to address the difficult subjects that arise out of facing our mortality. Sweetest Fruit pays homage to the late singer/producer SOPHIE: “My Sophie climbed the roof / To get a better view of the moon, moon / My God, then one wrong stair / Took her down to the depths / But for a minute, what a view,” settling on the sentiment that those who die early live on in other ways.

The album closes on the monumental track All Born Screaming, featuring British musician Cat Le Bon. It starts light in its delivery, building to a choral crescendo and ending appropriately on its original message.

All Born Screaming is an extravagant tale of life and death, with enough intrigue and comfort to keep you interested indefinitely.

Hannah Broughton
Image: Alex Da Corte

All Born Screaming is released on 26^th April 2024. For further information or to order the album visit St Vincent’s website here.

Watch the video for the single Flea here: