Posted by Where now for St. Vincent?
Annie Clark’s perpetual twisting and turning transformed her 2017 set ‘Masseducation’ in countless different ways, including a piano re-working, a full remix, and those hit-and-miss live shows.
New album ‘Daddy’s Home’ could go in any number of directions, and if this lead single is anything to go by all bets are off for her final destination.
‘Pay Your Way In Pain’ dwells on multiplicities, and thrives on double entendre; opening with jaunty bar-room piano, it is then cut in two by a squelching 303 line before St. Vincent purrs her way through some Prince-inspired raunch funk.
Delirious, semi-surreal storytelling, it veers between the obtuse and the thrillingly direct: “Sit down / stand up / head down / hands up, baby…”
Breaking down into a call and response section – “What do you want? You know what I want!” – Annie Clark then drives the vocal to the top of her register, her voice breaking in lust and aching.
Playful and punchy, ‘Pay Your Way In Pain’ never seems to settle in one place; just when you think you’ve got St. Vincent figured out, it writhes from your grasp, reaching towards something unknown.
As opening gambits go, ‘Pay Your Way In Pain’ is a dazzling return, up there with anything St. Vincent has placed her name against.
Tune in now.
St. Vincent’s sixth album ‘Daddy’s Home’ will be released on May 14th.
Photo Credit: Zackery Michael
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