St. Vincent (album)

St. Vincent
Studio album by St. Vincent
Released February 24, 2014
Recorded 2013 at Elmwood Studios, Dallas, Texas, United States
Genre
Length 40:04
Label Loma Vista/Republic
Producer John Congleton[2]
St. Vincent chronology

Brass Tactics
(2013)		 St. Vincent
(2014)
Singles from St. Vincent
  1. "Birth in Reverse"
    Released: December 10, 2013
  2. "Digital Witness"
    Released: January 6, 2014
  3. "Prince Johnny"
    Released: May 9, 2014
  4. "Regret"
    Released: August 18, 2014[3]
  5. "Bad Believer"
    Released: January 20, 2015[4]
Deluxe Edition

St. Vincent is the fourth studio album by American musician St. Vincent. It was released on February 24, 2014 in the United Kingdom and February 25 in the United States through Loma Vista and Republic Records.[5][6][7] The album was produced by John Congleton and features collaborations from Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings drummer Homer Steinweiss and Midlake drummer McKenzie Smith. The tracks were arranged and demoed by Annie Clark in Austin, Texas and recorded at Elmwood Studios in Dallas, Texas.[2][8]

The album received critical acclaim upon its release and won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album, making St. Vincent the second female artist to win the award since its inception in 1991, when it was awarded to Sinéad O'Connor.

Release

St. Vincent was announced on December 9, 2013, and "Birth in Reverse" was released for free download.[2][6] A second single, "Digital Witness", was released on January 6, 2014.[9] An additional release of "Digital Witness", featuring "Del Rio" as a B-side, was released in the United Kingdom on January 24, 2014.

A music video directed by Chino Moya was released on January 31, 2014 for "Digital Witness".[10][11] On February 5, Clark debuted "Prince Johnny" on the radio show KCRW: Morning Becomes Eclectic. On February 9, Clark debuted songs at fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg's runway show for New York's Fashion Week.[12] A music video directed by Willo Perron was released on December 16, 2014 for "Birth In Reverse".[13]

St. Vincent entered the US Billboard 200 albums chart at number 12 and the UK Albums Chart at number 21, becoming St. Vincent's highest charting album in both countries.[14][15]

A deluxe edition of St. Vincent was released on February 9, 2015 in the U.K. with the album being available only for digital download in the U.S. on February 10. It featured a previously unreleased track, "Bad Believer," as well as "Del Rio," which was a b-side on the "Digital Witness" single, as well as a bonus track on the Japanese edition of St. Vincent, "Digital Witness" (DARKSIDE Remix), previously released as a single, and finally, "Pietà" and "Sparrow", which were originally released together on a limited edition 10" pink vinyl on 28 November 2014 for Record Store Day. [16]

Music

Clark described St. Vincent as "a party record you could play at a funeral."[17] The opening song, "Rattlesnake", is about an experience Clark had when walking in the desert, which she described as a "commune with nature". However, the opening line "I followed the power lines back from the road", suggests that Clark is separating herself from her dependency on artificial or digital power.[18]

Other songs have more personal connections. "I Prefer Your Love", the sixth track on the album, is about Clark's mother, who was briefly ill.[18] The final track, "Severed Crossed Fingers", takes inspiration from a line in American novelist Lorrie Moore's collection of short stories.[19] The sentence from which the title is taken, "He thinks of severed, crossed fingers found perfectly survived in the wreckage of a local plane crash last year",[20] is used by Clark to demonstrate the human heart's ability to have hope, even when none is present. Clark said of the song, "That one's all me" in an interview with Studio 360.[21] Later, in an interview with Pitchfork Magazine, Clark explained "I sang that in one fucking take, cried my eyes out, and the song was done".[22]

Clark said she felt St. Vincent was "more confident. I'm extending a hand; I want to connect with people. Strange Mercy, which is a record I'm proud of, [was] definitely a very accurate record of my life at a certain time, but it was more about self-laceration, all the sort of internal struggle. [St. Vincent] is very extroverted."[23]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic 89/100[24]
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [25]
The A.V. Club A−[1]
Consequence of Sound A−[26]
The Fly [27]
The Guardian [28]
The Observer [29]
Pitchfork 8.6/10 [30]
Rolling Stone [31]
Slant Magazine [32]
Spin 8/10[33]

The album has received critical acclaim. On the review aggregate site Metacritic, the album scored a mean score of 89/100 based on 40 independent reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[24] AnyDecentMusic? collated reviews giving the album an average score of 8.6 based upon 40 reviews.[34] This score makes the record part of AnyDecentMusic?'s All-Time Top 10 albums.[35] Writing for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis awarded the album a perfect five stars, calling it "an embarrassment of fantastic songs" and "a straightforward triumph".[28]

At Rolling Stone, Jon Dolan rated the album four stars out of five, indicating the release "is her tightest, tensest, best set of songs to date, with wry, twisty beats pushing her lovably ornery melodies toward grueling revelations" that "the playful way these songs contort makes pain feel like a party."[31] Alex Denny of The Fly rated the album four-and-a-half stars out of five, describing the new tracks as "her most ebullient, ambitiously styled music to date".[27] NME, The Guardian, musicOMH, Entertainment Weekly and Slant Magazine named it the best album of 2014.

Accolades

Publication Rank List
Gigwise 1 Gigwise's 50 Best Albums of 2014[36]
American Songwriter 21 Top 50 Albums of 2014[37]
The A.V. Club 3 The 20 Best Albums of 2014[38]
Cosmopolitan 20 20 Best Albums of 2014[39]
The Daily Telegraph 16 Best 50 Albums of 2014[40]
Guardian 1 Best Albums of 2014[41]
Mojo 5 50 Best Albums of 2014[42]
musicOMH 1 Top 100 Albums of 2014[42]
NME 1 Top 50 Albums of 2014 [43]
Pitchfork 16 Top 50 Best Albums of 2014[44]
PopMatters 4 The 80 Best Albums of 2014[45]
Rolling Stone 4 50 Best Albums of 2014[46]
Slant Magazine 1 25 Best Albums of 2014[47]
Spin 26 50 Best Albums of 2014[48]
Stereogum 49 The 50 Best Albums of 2014[49]
TIME 2 Top 10 Best Albums of 2014[44]
Entertainment Weekly 1 10 Best Albums of 2014[50]

St. Vincent won Best Alternative Music Album at the 57th Grammy Awards in 2015.[51]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Annie Clark. 

No. Title Length
1. "Rattlesnake"   3:34
2. "Birth in Reverse"   3:15
3. "Prince Johnny"   4:36
4. "Huey Newton"   4:37
5. "Digital Witness"   3:21
6. "I Prefer Your Love"   3:36
7. "Regret"   3:21
8. "Bring Me Your Loves"   3:15
9. "Psychopath"   3:32
10. "Every Tear Disappears"   3:15
11. "Severed Crossed Fingers"   3:42
Total length:
 40:04
Japanese bonus track[52]
No. Title Length
12. "Del Rio"   2:55
Deluxe Edition expanded tracklist[53]
No. Title Length
12. "Bad Believer"   2:58
13. "Pieta"   3:29
14. "Sparrow"   3:55
15. "Del Rio"   2:55
16. "Digital Witness" (DARKSIDE Remix) 4:20

Personnel

Technical personnel
Design

Release history

Country Date Label
United Kingdom[8] February 24, 2014 Loma Vista/Republic
United States[8] February 25, 2014
Japan February 26, 2014 Loma Vista

Charts

Chart (2014) Peak
position
scope="row" Canadian Albums (Billboard)[54] 15
scope="row" Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[55] 37
scope="row" Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[56] 64
scope="row" Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[57] 18
scope="row" Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[58] 41
scope="row" French Albums (SNEP)[59] 200
scope="row" Italian Albums (FIMI)[60] 58
scope="row" Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[61] 70
scope="row" UK Albums (OCC)[62] 21
scope="row" US Billboard 200[63] 12
scope="row" US Top Alternative Albums (Billboard)[64] 3
scope="row" US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[65] 4

Year-end charts

Chart (2014) Position
US Top Rock Albums[66] 64
US Alternative Albums (Billboard)[67] 42

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Wild, Matt (February 25, 2014). "St. Vincent completes Annie Clark's transformation into art-rock pop star". The A.V. Club. The Onion. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Phillips, Amy and Evan Minsker (December 9, 2013). "St. Vincent Announces Self-Titled Album, Shares "Birth in Reverse"". Pitchfork. Retrieved December 9, 2013.
  3. ↑ "St Vincent Regret 2 Track Promo CD saint". eBay.
  4. ↑ http://www.nme.com/news/st-vincent/82349
  5. ↑ Danton, Eric (December 9, 2013). "St. Vincent Readies New Album for February Release". Rolling Stone. Retrieved December 9, 2013.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "St. Vincent announces new album, stream "Birth In Reverse"". Consequence of Sound. December 9, 2013. Retrieved December 9, 2013.
  7. ↑ Dombal, Ryan. Reckless Perfection. Pitchfork Media. 17 February 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 McGovern, Kyle (December 9, 2013). "St. Vincent Confirms New Self-Titled Album With Groove-Warped 'Birth in Reverse'". Spin. Retrieved December 9, 2013.
  9. ↑ Battan, Carrie (6 January 2014). "Listen: St. Vincent: 'Digital Witness'". Retrieved January 26, 2014.
  10. ↑ de Revere, Paul. "St. Vincent Shares her Paranoia in 'Digital Witness' Video". Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  11. ↑ Hogan, Marc. "Watch St. Vincent's Gloriously Coiffed 'Digital Witness' Dystopia". SPIN. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
  12. ↑ Breihan, Tom. "St. Vincent To Debut Songs At Diane Von Furstenberg Runway Show". Stereogum. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  13. ↑ Camp, Zoe. "St. Vincent Shares "Birth In Reverse" Video". Pitchfork. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
  14. ↑ St. Vincent - St. Vincent. Billboard.com. Retrieved 12 March 2014
  15. ↑ UK Top 40 Official Albums Chart 8th March 2014. Theofficialcharts.com. Retrieved 12 March 2014
  16. ↑ "St. Vincent Announces St. Vincent Deluxe Edition, Expands World Tour". Pitchfork.com. Retrieved 14 January 2015.
  17. ↑ Phillips, Amy; Minsker, Evan (December 9, 2013). "St. Vincent Announces Self-Titled Album, Shares "Birth in Reverse"". Pitchfork. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Hilton, Robin; Boilen, Bob (January 8, 2014). "Ambien Dreams And Naked Desert Walks: St. Vincent On Her New Album". All Songs Considered. NPR. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  19. ↑ "St. Vincent - St. Vincent". DIY. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  20. ↑ Moore, Lorrie (Dec 22, 2010). The Collected Stories of Lorrie Moore. Faber & Faber. ISBN 0571268323. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  21. ↑ "St. Vincent Becomes St. Vincent". Studio 360. February 14, 2014. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  22. ↑ Dombal, Ryan (February 17, 2014). "St Vincent: Reckless Precision". Pitchfork. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  23. ↑ Maloney, Devon (26 February 2014). "St. Vincent Has Crafted a Magnificent Mythology on Her Own Terms". Village Voice. Retrieved 27 February 2014.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 St. Vincent at Metacritic Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  25. ↑ Phares, Heather. St. Vincent at AllMusic. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  26. ↑ Cosores, Philip (February 23, 2014). "Album Review: St. Vincent – St. Vincent". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Denney, Alex (February 14, 2014). "St Vincent - 'St Vincent'". The Fly. Retrieved February 18, 2014.
  28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Petridis, Alexis (February 13, 2014). "St Vincent: St Vincent – review". The Guardian (Guardian Media Group). Retrieved February 18, 2014.
  29. ↑ Empire, Kitty (February 22, 2014). "St Vincent: St Vincent – review". The Observer (Guardian Media Group). Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  30. ↑ Zoladz, Lindsay (February 24, 2014). "St. Vincent: St. Vincent". Pitchfork. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 Dolan, Jon. "St. Vincent 'St. Vincent' Album Review". Rolling Stone (Wenner Media LLC). February 27, 2014 (1203): 64. ISSN 0035-791X. Retrieved February 18, 2014.
  32. ↑ Cataldo, Jesse (February 23, 2014). "St. Vincent: St. Vincent". Slant. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  33. ↑ Hopper, Jessica (February 24, 2014). "Annie Clark Burns Down the Boys' Club on the Poised, Effortless 'St. Vincent'". Spin. Retrieved February 26, 2014.
  34. ↑ "St Vincent by St Vincent reviews - Any Decent Music".
  35. ↑ "All-Time Top 10 albums". Any decent music?.
  36. ↑ Gigwise (December 3, 2014). "Gigwise's 50 Best Albums of 2014". Gigwise. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
  37. ↑ American Songwriter (November 24, 2014). "American Songwriter's Top 50 Albums of 2014". American Songwriter. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
  38. ↑ A.V. Club (December 9, 2014). "The A.V. Club 20 Best Albums of 2014". American Songwriter. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
  39. ↑ Cosmopolitan (December 3, 2014). "Cosmo's 20 Best Albums of 2014". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
  40. ↑ The Telegraph (November 27, 2014). "Best 50 Albums of 2014". AllMusic. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
  41. ↑ The Guardian (November 26, 2014). "Guardian Best Albums of 2014". The Guardian. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
  42. ↑ 42.0 42.1 "MOJO's 50 Best Albums of 2014: The Final Score". musicOMH. November 21, 2014. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
  43. ↑ NME (November 29, 2014). "NME's Top 50 Albums of 2014". NME. Retrieved November 29, 2014.
  44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 TIME (December 17, 2014). "Top 50 Best Albums of 2014". TIME. Retrieved December 17, 2014.
  45. ↑ PopMatters (December 8, 2014). "The 80 Best Albums of 2014". PopMatters. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
  46. ↑ Rolling Stone Staff (December 1, 2014). "50 Best Albums of 2014". Rolling Stone. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
  47. ↑ Slant Staff (December 11, 2014). "The 25 Best Albums of 2014". SPIN. Retrieved January 24, 2015.
  48. ↑ SPIN Staff (December 9, 2014). "Spin's 50 Best Albums of 2014". SPIN. Retrieved December 12, 2014.
  49. ↑ Stereogum (December 2, 2014). "The 50 Best Albums of 2014". Stereogum. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
  50. ↑ Entertainment Weekly (December 3, 2014). "Entertainment Weekly's 10 Best Albums of 2014". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  51. ↑ Clark, Annie (February 8, 2015). St. Vincent Talks Best Alternative Music Album Grammy Win. Interview with Jeremy Gordon. Pitchfork. Retrieved February 10, 2015.
  52. ↑ "PV of "Digital Witness" the public of new St. Vincent from "St. Vincent"". Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  53. ↑ "St. Vincent's 2014 self-titled album given deluxe re-release". DIY. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  54. ↑ "St. Vincent Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Canadian Albums Chart for St. Vincent. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  55. ↑ "St. Vincent – St. Vincent" (in Dutch). Ultratop.be. Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  56. ↑ "St. Vincent – St. Vincent" (in French). Ultratop.be. Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  57. ↑ "St. Vincent – St. Vincent". Danishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  58. ↑ "St. Vincent – St. Vincent" (in Dutch). Dutchcharts.nl. Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  59. ↑ "St. Vincent – St . Vincent". Lescharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  60. ↑ "St. Vincent – St . Vincent". Italiancharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  61. ↑ "St. Vincent – St . Vincent". Spanishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  62. ↑ March 2014 "8 March 2014 Top 40 UK Albums Archive". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  63. ↑ "St. Vincent Album & Song Chart History" Billboard 200 for St. Vincent.
  64. ↑ "St. Vincent Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Top Alternative Albums for St. Vincent. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  65. ↑ "St. Vincent Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Top Rock Albums for St. Vincent. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  66. ↑ "Top Rock Albums: Year End 2014". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved December 11, 2014.
  67. ↑ "Alternative Albums: 2014 Year-End Charts". Billboard. Retrieved 16 January 2015. (subscription required)

External links