St. Vincent, the arty guitar goddess, shed her artiste persona and became more personal on Thursday night at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul. For instance, she talked about Prince showing up at one of her shows in New York City and she being terrified eyeing him sitting in the royal box. She reminisced about playing at the 7th Street Entry for her first two times in the Twin Cities. Despite her occasional dramatic poses and skittering robotic movements, St. Vincent came across as human. Her concerts tend to be as high concept as her albums.
The 'All Born Screaming' Tour
St. Vincent’s devoted Australian fans will get to experience the majestic terrors and joys of All Born Screaming this November, with the singer and multi-instrumentalist set to perform three shows in Victoria for this year’s ALWAYS LIVE program. Clark reveals, “I think it's a brutalising rock show with moments of real beauty, and then also, like a sort of ecstatic rave.” Clark describes the album as “unfiltered,” she also means, in a practical sense, that All Born Screaming is the first St. Vincent album she’s ever co-produced. The last time Clark was in Australia, she played solo St. Vincent shows – conceptual concerts to present Masseduction in its purest form.
St. Vincent's Collaborations
Clark arrived in those woods not alone but with collaborators who would understand her vision, including Dave Grohl, Josh Freese, Cate Le Bon (who you can hear on the groovy title track), producer and musician Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Poppy, Nine Inch Nails, Paramore), Warpaint’s Stella Mozgowa, and others. They were just as integral to the album as her mindset. For one, Clark doesn’t mind if she disturbs with the unhinged or uncomfortable (Broken Man), if you weren’t ready for a rave (Big Time Nothing), or if grief is something you don’t feel like addressing head-on (Sweetest Fruit, her ode to the electronic music pioneer SOPHIE). She continues, “[Production requires] a very different mindset than being a performer. You have to be completely open—open to throwing this out and throwing this at the wall and throwing that at the wall. And what if I try this, and what if I try that? And then, the producer’s job is to navigate and corral that. When it's the same person, honestly, it's a pretty big mental tap dance that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy, but there’s no way I could have made this record any other way.” She also calls Grohl a “great songwriter” and compliments his drumming abilities: “The reason he's one of the greatest drummers is not just because he is like absolute thunder behind the drum set, it's because he's always serving the song. He's never playing over the song; he's going, ‘Cool, I see what you are, and I support you, and I'm gonna take you to the moon and back.’”
The Significance of 'All Born Screaming'
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Clark said of where the album took her—and why she couldn’t make an album like it before: “I've known I was going to make a record called All Born Screaming since I was 23, but I just wasn't ready. I wasn't really worthy of the title 'cause you have to live a lot to be worthy of a title that really says it all. It's the beauty, it's the brutality, and it's all part of the same continuum.” It’s a particularly profound rallying cry to hit on, but one that makes sense when you’re chatting about All Born Screaming, the seventh album from Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent. “You just have to make music that calls to you, and then hope for the best with the reception,” she continues. “But I think artists don’t do themselves any favours when they start reverse engineering the process, or being self-conscious in their work, asking what people will like.” She peels away the artiness with stories about Prince and her early Minneapolis gigs. Clark is a chameleonic musician whose visual and sonic output never repeats across any of her albums. Prior to her new album, All Born Screaming, released back in April, St. Vincent dropped Daddy’s Home in 2021, a conceptual period piece that engrossed listeners in the gritty, glam rock scene of New York City in the ‘70s. Across 18 years, the Grammy-winning art-rocker has explored a range of styles in Bowie-like fashion. Lately, though, she’s aiming for a more unfiltered, rawer style of expression.
The Album's Meaning
Clark arrived in those woods not alone but with collaborators who would understand her vision, including Dave Grohl, Josh Freese, Cate Le Bon (who you can hear on the groovy title track), producer and musician Justin Meldal-Johnsen (Poppy, Nine Inch Nails, Paramore), Warpaint’s Stella Mozgowa, and others. They were just as integral to the album as her mindset. For one, Clark doesn’t mind if she disturbs with the unhinged or uncomfortable (Broken Man), if you weren’t ready for a rave (Big Time Nothing), or if grief is something you don’t feel like addressing head-on (Sweetest Fruit, her ode to the electronic music pioneer SOPHIE). When Hot Press catches up with the singer in her LA studio somewhere beneath the Hollywood sign, she’s finishing off her breakfast of waffles and berries. She further considers her latest LP. It's a far cry from the softly spoken person at the other end of the line, enjoying the same breakfast I favoured throughout my first year in college. Still, both in person and as an artist, Clark is clearly multi-faceted. As well as a formidable musical range, throughout her career, the singer has also played with her image. “As an artist, it’s very important to have a beginner’s mind,” says Clark. “If you’re not inspired by the thing that you do really well, find something you don’t know how to do. Then, all of a sudden, everything is pure discovery.
St. Vincent's Evolution as an Artist
St. Vincent has built quite the reputation for herself in the years since releasing her debut album, Marry Me, in 2007. She’s recognised as one of the most influential, accomplished guitar players in rock music with a style that’s melodic, memorable and distorted, appealing to anyone who enjoys music. Where were the colorful costumes? The choreographed movements? The artsy accoutrements of previous tours? On Thursday, on the opening of her two-night St. Paul stand (Friday is sold out), St. Vincent opted for a minimalist production — three movable arches, a stylish light show and three small video screens behind her for clips or live close-ups. Backed by four musicians, she showcased her different voices from menacing screamer to jazzy balladeer and shredded on guitar (though not as much as on some previous tours). But what made this oddly flowing but potent show special was that St. Vincent often shed her artiste persona and became more personal. No matter how much or little you know about guitar playing, you know that what St. Vincent does is impressive, and it sounds great. “For me, that meant digging into modular synthesis with All Born Screaming, and being a little grimy in my approach of trying to programme things, as well as letting electricity do its thing and surprise me.” St. Vincent, 41, may be rock music’s most artful shapeshifter of the past 15 years or so. Like Bowie, Prince and Madonna, St. Vincent changes her sound and look/visuals with each album and its affiliated tour. Her concerts tend to be as high concept as her albums.
The Influence of 'Pompeii'
Also appearing is another old friend, Welsh singer Cate Le Bon, whose 2022 opus Pompeii was an influence on All Born Screaming. The way I see it, All Born Screaming and Pompeii are equals: kindred spirits in conversation, exchanging insights like trading cards. “First of all, that’s like the biggest compliment anyone’s ever given me,” says a chuffed Clark. “I love Pompeii so much. If the world were a fair place, Cate Le Bon would be the only thing on the airwaves. She’s a genius. She’s everything I’m not: patient with an inner calm. So I brought her in at a time when I was making the record and I was just sick of it, and sick of myself. She peels away the artiness with stories about Prince and her early Minneapolis gigs. St. Vincent, the arty guitar goddess, came across as a down-to-earth rock star on Thursday night at the Palace Theatre in St. Paul, showing more personality than she has in previous Twin Cities concerts.
St. Vincent's Creative Process
She peels away the artiness with stories about Prince and her early Minneapolis gigs. For the Daddy’s Home era, Clark donned a blonde wig cut to a bob and wore a stylish trench coat. With All Born Screaming, she’s back to her signature black hair, said farewell to producer Jack Antonoff (Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey), and embraced her independent era. For the first time in her career, Clark took the reins of producing one of her own albums, a release that needed to be wholly hers. “I mean, everybody gets to that point when making a record. So I said to Cate that I’d been toiling away, and I didn’t know if it was any good. I just needed her ears on it, and she gave really great insights. I played her one song and her take was that ‘these drums are a bully’, and she was so right – they were bullying the song!” For instance, for the trek behind 2021′s “Daddy’s Home,” she became a blond ‘70s glamour puss fronting a vintage soul music revue. In 2017, for her Masseduction Tour, she emerged in a pink plasmatic outfit and played the entire concert without a band, relying on recorded tracks. In 2014, she was a sexy robot with a silver, cotton-candy bouffant of hair, relishing the mechanical minimalism for her performance.
The Role of Fear in Creativity
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Clark said of where the album took her—and why she couldn’t make an album like it before: “I've known I was going to make a record called All Born Screaming since I was 23, but I just wasn't ready. I wasn't really worthy of the title 'cause you have to live a lot to be worthy of a title that really says it all. It's the beauty, it's the brutality, and it's all part of the same continuum.” When it was time to return to the stage, she couldn’t quite figure out how to gracefully do it — should the security guard lift her? should she head backstage? — oh, she just used her instincts and kind of crawled back by herself. “In a larger sense, as an artist, the point is not to have to try to be it – you are it and embody it. Then you can share it. So where I would be trying to fabricate excitement in places, to satiate the cocaine-rat-in-the-maze part of my brain, Cate gives a song space and lets it breathe.” When she announced the album, she backed those thoughts, stating: “There are some places, emotionally, that you can only get to by taking the long walk into the woods alone—to find out what your heart is really saying. It sounds real because it is real.”
St. Vincent's Future Plans
She peels away the artiness with stories about Prince and her early Minneapolis gigs. “I like people to walk away going, ‘I’m not sure what I just saw, but I’m really moved by it,’” says Annie. “So it’ll be wild, dangerous and intense. I can’t wait to be back. I love Dublin!” Has she been listening to any Irish artists of late? The last time Clark was in Australia, she played solo St. Vincent shows – conceptual concerts to present Masseduction in its purest form. She went into the polar opposite with Daddy’s Home, bringing a live band back on stage and doing away with the backing tracks. As for this tour?
The Influence of 'Pompeii'
Also appearing is another old friend, Welsh singer Cate Le Bon, whose 2022 opus Pompeii was an influence on All Born Screaming. The way I see it, All Born Screaming and Pompeii are equals: kindred spirits in conversation, exchanging insights like trading cards. It’s a far cry from the softly spoken person at the other end of the line, enjoying the same breakfast I favoured throughout my first year in college. Still, both in person and as an artist, Clark is clearly multi-faceted. As well as a formidable musical range, throughout her career, the singer has also played with her image. “First of all, that’s like the biggest compliment anyone’s ever given me,” says a chuffed Clark. “I love Pompeii so much. If the world were a fair place, Cate Le Bon would be the only thing on the airwaves. She’s a genius. She’s everything I’m not: patient with an inner calm. So I brought her in at a time when I was making the record and I was just sick of it, and sick of myself. “I love Fontaines D.C., they’re incredible,” she answers. “They came to my Royal Albert Hall show, though I didn’t get to see them. But I DMed with them afterwards. I fucking love that band. They’re definitely my number one.” She peels away the artiness with stories about Prince and her early Minneapolis gigs.
Conclusion
St. Vincent’s latest album, All Born Screaming, and her upcoming Australian tour are sure to be a wild ride. “When the baby comes out screaming, it’s the best, it means it’s alive,” Clark reiterates. “But in another context, we’re all born in protest, as we didn’t ask to be born. It’s terrifying to be alive, it’s ecstatic to be alive. It’s everything.” She peels away the artiness with stories about Prince and her early Minneapolis gigs.
