Do you want to know one of the most incomprehensible things that happened to me this year? I remembered something. I really, really like Nine Inch Nails (NIN). I did not recall this by listening to some of the albums or Trent Reznor appearing in the news but through the video game Fortnite.
The popular online game released an update early in the year featuring what is essentially a Guitar Hero/Rock Band clone– made by former Rock Band developers. The first set of songs to release with this update included none other than “The Hand That Feeds” by Nine Inch Nails. This song is, to me, the quintessential example of the industrial electro-rock sound of NIN, and it left me desperately wanting new music with that sound.
Why have I started my St. Vincent review with an anecdote about my time playing a game marketed towards children? Because I think Annie Clark (St. Vincent) read my goddamn mind and released the first single of her new album, shortly after my desperation for new industrial rock music began. All Born Screaming pulls from a variety of directions and includes some incredible interpretations of that NIN industrial rock sound (“Broken Man, “Big Time Nothing”), with a healthy helping of St Vincent’s own quirks and some pulls from classic and prog-rock (“Hell is Near”) and even post-punk (So Many Planets, ” All Born Screaming”) creating an album that is as varied sonically as it is creative.
Annie Clark is running production on this one, leaving behind previous conspirator Jack Antonoff– whose style has begun to grate with the recent underwhelming Taylor Swift release. The album MASSEDUCTION (a personal favourite) was St. Vincent’s first step away from the glitchy guitar-led music of her early career into a synthy, depressing wonderland. All Born Screaming finds its footing by pulling everything she’s created over the years together and refining the best bits into a hardcore electronic rock sound, driven by thunderous basslines (“Big Time Nothing, “Flea”, “Violent Times”).
The first single, “Broken Man”, is an exhilarating standout in an album of great songs. Glitchy, industrial, and a heavy helping of distorted guitars create an excellently sinister build-up into a catchy and roaring chorus where Clark screams “What are you looking at?” It was a thrilling introduction to the album and had me clawing at the walls of the cell they keep me in at Antagonizine for more.
Annie Clark’s lyrics are frequently evocative. Songs like “The Power’s Out” and “Violent Times” are apocalyptic, as Clark seems to confront a feeling very few artists have capably captured, in the face of a looming climate disaster. It’s a pretty dour album. Even in the second half, when St. Vincent adopts a more hopeful perspective, Clark’s personal view of the album’s back half is more of a “Well, can’t do anything but get on with it” attitude, as described in her interview with The Guardian. So it’s sunshine and rainbows all around on this one.
Clark’s vocal performance is always unmistakable, with shades of Bowie and Cohen channelled in the verses and then choruses that break away into a gorgeous and haunting belt (“Reckless”, “Violent Times”). She also matches the energy with some excellent choruses that focus much more on thrilling production (“Broken Man”) than vocals.
“Violent Times” is the best Bond song we never had. Atmospheric horns and a sinister drone of strings haunt the song. The most creative choice is one that I had trouble deciphering; the bassline of this song is either a double bass mic'd at the bridge to pick up the slaps or a detuned bass drum that had been modulated in post. Either way, it sounds incredible and adds to the moody atmosphere of this song.
The back quarter of this album takes an unusual turn. At the top of this review, I described the different genres that St. Vincent pulls from. While St. Vincent is no stranger to pulling from Talking Heads and previous collaborator, David Byrne, I was not expecting a post-punk turn on this album. It’s not completely unfounded– “Sweetest Fruit” gives you some sort of bridge between the two sounds, but doesn’t do enough to cover all of the leaps for us to reach the end. The final two songs (“So Many Planets”, and “All Born Screaming”) are space-age and funky songs that feel like a complete departure from the tone of the rest of the album. These songs are quite light and enjoyable but they feel out of place on All Born Screaming. Does this make the album worse off?
Ehhhhh.
I like the idea of it, a tonal and sonic shift in the album towards the end usually works great, especially for someone who enjoys narrative-driven albums. But this album feels like it takes too sharp a turn too quickly, which makes the full listening experience slightly disjointed.
All Born Screaming, as an album, fits into the St. Vincent discography pretty well. Another album where Clark refuses to be pinned down by one genre and experiments as wildly with lyrical themes as she does with sounds. The moments where this album shines are within the more hardcore, Industrial sound. While the prog-rock intro songs and post-punk ending songs are great in their own right, they pale in comparison to the thunderous album that exists between the two sections. All Born Screaming doesn’t overtake MASSEDUCTION as my favourite St. Vincent Album, but it certainly stands proud amongst an already excellent discography.
(Image - Pitchfork)
Edited by Madison Challis
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