You get the feeling that Annie Clark can do whatever the hell she wants. Glam Rock? Done. Scuzzy Bar Rock? Done.
Be-suited Power Pop? Done and done.
On this latest release, Clark let’s her guard down, but only a touch.
Daddy’s Home sees St. Vincent strap on yet another alter ego and, as before, record an album that approaches the world from the point of view that character.
Daddy’s Home refers to her father’s release from prison after a 10-year stretch behind bars for stock manipulation and the subject hangs heavy on this LP. Between Clark’s frenetic guitar-work and syncopated percussion we are run through stories that are clearly very personal but treated as though being told by an outsider looking in.
Once more we are held at arms length in regards to waiting for the real Annie Clark to stand up, or maybe that is the point all along.
“We’re all born innocent but some good saints get screwed,” she sings on the title track, “Hell, where can you run when the outlaw’s inside you?”
Covering a range of styles and straddling a huge number of genres, Daddy’s Home does require a little bit of work from the listener. and this prepared to join Clark on her bourbon-soaked odyssey will be rewarded by the signature humour and wit with which her characters are drawn.
These characters are ALL Annie Clark. St. Vincent IS Annie and Annie is the St. and Sinner.
We are not one thing. We are so much more.
Which is exactly what this album is.
Daddy’s Home is available now on Loma Vista.
