All birth screams, Annie Clark’s new album as St. Vincent has a baroque quality — a grandeur that emerges as the songs move beyond their early pop sound, hinting at the idiosyncratic violence that defines our times. . There is only one “broken man,“ A deep dance track that Clarke plays with her screeching rock’n’roll vocals and parallels with her guitar. “It is time for violence,“ A dreamy song with a bit of Portishead, a bit of Kate Bush, Clarke’s voice between a scream and a diva-esque belt.
On Album cover Clarke wears a simple black and white dress, with white stockings and black pumps, a hint of sexiness despite being buttoned up. Somewhere between dancing and frowning, she breaks her body, which is in flames. It is not clear whether she is turning to extinguish the flames or embrace them.
I spoke with Clarke over the phone on a rare break from rehearsals about the album’s inspiration.
GQ: You’re rehearsing your new record in LA right now. Is this your first time singing? How does this change your relationship with music?
Annie Clark: Maybe ask me in six months when I’ve played music for people. There are some songs from the new album, like “Reckless,” that I just can’t sing along to. It cracks me up every time I sing it. I am not sentimental in any way.
This is the first record you’ve made yourself. How did you decide to do this and how was the experience?
I have been recording myself in my living room on a digital recording platform since I was 15 years old. That’s how I learned to write and arrange and think about music. So it’s always been part of my process to record myself and make extensive demos. But this time, I mean, I just knew there were emotional places I wanted to go and places I wanted to go. You know that if you have a painting in your head, you can’t ask someone else to paint it. You just have to dive in and do it. And that meant a lot of exploring alone in a room. I was reading obscure drum machine manuals and shit. I mean, like, really, really quirky stuff on some level, but also just finding new sounds.
It’s exciting — finding new sounds and textures through a new set of skills, and being able to deliver something different.
I am also very curious about it. I had my engineer – who engineered a lot of the record, especially the drums, and mixed it – I used to come over and teach me engineering lessons. The music is so fascinating and vast that you will be its student all your life and never close to its edges. So I just followed my curiosity and kind of studied. I wasn’t just about sharpening the tools in my toolbox but actually getting some new tools.
Credit : www.gq.com
