All Born Screaming Cover

Being one of the greatest guitarists of your generation, collaborating with David Byrne, or designing your own signature guitar from the ground up might be crowning achievements for some, but others want total world domination. Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent, may be one of those people.

Singing like she has to pay the bills, everyone’s favorite three-ring circus of an artist is back with her latest concoction, All Born Screaming.

The album fades in with an ominous groove that sounds as haunted as it is inviting. An intriguing combination of sounds that harkens back to St. Vincent’s earliest work spreads its wings as a matured evolution. ‘Hell is Near’ morphs into ‘Reckless’ and ensures the listener will fall into a trance before they could even consider escaping.

‘Broken Man,’ the first single of the album, is Annie Clark’s grittiest, most raw performance to date. It reeks of sickening illness and disparaging times. The tearing of Annie’s vocal cords against a backdrop of organized chaos prove she’s as inventive as ever – even eight albums in.

Space is the key element of All Born Screaming. No stranger to dense arrangements filled with strings, woodwinds, synthesizers, fuzzy guitars, and layered vocals, St. Vincent treats her audience to a more intimate experience without losing her larger than life perspective. Don’t worry: modular synthesizers and horns still have their moments. But the songs all feel built on necessity rather than idle experimentation. Never once does it feel like she’s throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks.

Annie spoke about self-producing this album, and how she felt she needed to make it alone. Most people would collapse, if not implode, under the pressure of such a Herculean feat. Outside of Dave Grohl coming for a single take on drums for ‘Flea,’ Clark made herself a masterpiece in solace.

This album bounces around so much it’s impossible to pin it down with absolute statements. The album starts neo-classical, turns post-rock, and ends with an ‘80 island music feel. The collective confusion of all listeners is palpable on that last one. So ‘Many Planets’ feels like you’re in the Twilight Zone in the best way possible. I love it. It continues the album’s vibe while taking it somewhere else entirely.

Photo by Noah Kentis

My only disappointment with this album is the title track. The cover art goes hard. The phrase ‘All Born Screaming’ goes hard. But the title track itself feels like a remix of outtakes. It was the gift shop at the end of a magical journey. I was mesmerized by the album until the track left me wondering, ‘That’s it?’ It left me wanting more of a finale. I yearned for that desperate, anxious feeling to fade me out into a train of my own thoughts, but the outro lacked any sort of feeling at all. It would’ve been fine as a mid-point interlude if I’m being generous.

Photo by Noah Kentis

The disappointment of the ending makes it hard for me to want to jump back in, yet the album is so immersive that it feels nearly impossible to turn it off prematurely. This is a both-headphones-in, not-doomscroll-while-listening certified work of art. You’ll be glad you gave it your full attention