St. Vincent
„All Born Screaming“
Black Vinyl 2024. Indie-Rock. Female Driven.

Annie Clark, American singer, Grammy winner and multi-instrumentalist, founded her band St. Vincent in 2007. The television channel ARTE broadcast a St. Vincent concert and I promptly purchased the 2024 album "All Born Screaming." I haven't regretted it.

It's difficult to pigeonhole St. Vincent into a genre: indie rock, electronic and alternative comes to mind. St. Vincent is tailor-made for Annie Clark and she's the face of her band. St. Vincent, though, is a thoroughly stylish presence. I like that. Provocation is part of the craft, too...

...I don't know if that still works these days, though. It certainly amused me. The music is still what matters.

And if a band like St. Vincent appeals to a prog head like me it's because the music is diverse. And not only that, for one thing it's their first completely self-produced album. The song "Flea" comes across almost as if Annie Clark wanted to break away from the pronounced artificiality of her other albums, with Dave Grohl (Nirwarna, Foo Fighters) on drums. But let's not kid ourselves, St. Vincent is a product of art and that's a good thing. It's a work of art from a more than talented artist. All the songs, be it "Reckless", "Broken Man", "Hell Is Near" or "Violent Times", which could easily have come from a Bond film, are coherent. Even the slight reggae influences in "So Many Planets" work smoothly. I could dissect every song now, but then where would the fun of discovery be?

Annie Clark aka St. Vincent has created an incredibly good album, be it visually in the videos, lyrically, vocally, musically, or in terms of variety. I always find comparisons with other bands difficult, so I'll spare you that.

Credits: Annie Clark, Rachel Eckroth, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, Cian Riordan, Dave Grohl, Mark Guiliana, David Ralicke, Cate Le Bon, Stella Mozgawa. Produced by St. Vicent.

The album is almost flawless and sits flat on the turntable.

The photos are all from my LP. The rights to all motifs, logos, texts and fonts that can be seen in the photos are of course owned by the copyright holder.