Annie Erin Clark, who goes by the stage name St. Vincent, has returned on her seventh studio album “All Born Screaming,” released on Friday. The album has already received much critical praise for its heavier, moodier rock instrumentation — a departure from the dreamier motifs of the artist’s most recent LP “Daddy’s Home” (2021). “All Born Screaming” is more reminiscent of “MASSEDUCTION” (2017), but is a new direction for St. Vincent.
The album opens on the track “Hell Is Near” with the line “Empty cup and a can full of marigolds,” and the rest of the track recounts similar gothic imagery with its lines referencing “the Holy Ghost” and “Letters, records, and ash on linoleum.” Despite the interesting images conjured in this track, Clark’s new breathy style of singing prevents the listener from easily following her lyrics. Over the warbling guitar and experimental synth, Clark’s voice almost feels hollow on “Hell Is Near.”
On one of the lead singles, “Broken Man,” we hear more of the characteristic strength of Clark’s voice come through. The guitars and drum kit on this track are deeply reflective of the influence of Foo Fighters members Dave Grohl and Josh Freese, who collaborated with Clark on the album. “Broken Man” might even be the best track on the album — it’s energetic, catchy and sonically engaging.
The song is followed by another lead single “Flea,” which recovers from its unfortunate opening simile “I’m just like a hungry little flea” which builds into more creative imagery and more stimulating musical flourishes. Some of Clark’s signature lyrical style emerges on this track in lines like “Drip you in diamonds, pour you in cream / You’ll be mine for eternity,” where she takes familiar ideas about parasitic love and elaborates on them. Other tracks like “Sweetest Fruit” and “So Many Planets” also emerge as standouts on the track list, built from strong experimental beats in “Sweetest Fruit” and simple instrumentation in “So Many Planets.”
This album, similarly to “MASSEDUCTION,” explores issues of consumerism and its effect on modern culture and artistry. This especially comes through in tracks like “Violent Times,” which is one of the highlights of the album for its clever use of saxophones and Clark’s warbling voice. However, despite the quality of production and the cohesiveness of the whole project, it doesn’t quite stand as tall as some of Clark’s previous albums. Given the out-of-this-world style of “MASSEDUCTION” and the more mellow undertones to “Daddy’s Home,” “All Born Screaming” feels like a natural progression for Clark, but an overall less interesting addition to her discography. It’s missing some of the emotion which made tracks like “Live In The Dream” (2021) and “Happy Birthday, Johnny” (2017) so powerful, and which added another layer to their respective albums. There is no emotional pinnacle on “All Born Screaming” and it’s missing a strong ballad, which have made her previous albums more profound. “All Born Screaming” is a project by St. Vincent, but we don’t see any Annie Clark shine through, and for this author at least, that limits the success of this latest release.
“All Born Screaming” is not as raucous or intriguing, or even as tortured, as its title would imply, and despite all of its musical successes, St. Vincent’s newest project left this author wanting more.
