St.Vincent, personified by Annie Clark, is known for her polysemous lyrics and complex, intricate arrangement of musical instruments. Clark’s lyrics are often of a mysterious nature sung with an almost odd calmness and clarity, accompanied by “Hendrix-esque” guitar riffs and electronic melodies. Clark has produced four albums up to date: Marry Me (2007), Actor (2009), Strange Mercy (2011), and the most recent, St.Vincent (2014). Going back to the bittersweet lyrics and the hauntingly beautiful orchestral sound of Marry Me, Digital Witness is a far cry from Clark’s previous work. However, St.Vincent hints back to some of her roots by integrating a robotic version of a “Big Band Era” brass section into many of her songs, being influenced by Clark’s collaboration with David Byrne entitled, Love This Giant. Clark’s most recent album is a collection of dissonance between electric guitar riffs and big brassy climaxes against her voice, which is angelic in its syntax; it sounds charming and clear in slow tempos and powerful and messy in faster ones. Digital Witness is the pinnacle of the electronic transition Clark’s music has taken over the years.
Digital Witness opens with "Rattlesnake", an electronic and beat-based track that gives you the powerful urge to shake your leg or bob your head. This track is arguably the danciest, having electronic melodies and a satisfying dissonance that makes one want to play a totally justified air guitar. The lyrics are playful; Annie writes about a feeling we all can relate to, the feeling of being in a place by yourself completely, being unable to physically see anyone. But that isn’t the reality; you aren’t the only one in the world, even if it’s a lesson forgotten at times. On the track, Annie runs through the desert, seemingly alone; she decides to take her clothes off. She then sees a rattlesnake, from which she realizes she isn’t the “only one in the only world”. This is an interesting perspective and provides a story that blends funkily into the beat. The second track,one of Clark’s more popular singles, is called Birth In Reverse. It’s an upbeat track that carries one through a knotty and once again funky beat and acerbic synth and guitar solos that grind, but in the good way. Clark’s smooth yet rhythmic vocals contradict her edgy and synthy sound. The lyrics are some of the most deep and interesting off of the album. She talks about carelessness; living life inside of an organized chaos you as an individual have created. When infants are born, we consider them to be fragile and innocent; a birth in reverse would be someone who is impure reverting back to what they were like when they were born. Birth In Reverse is quite similar to Digital Witness with its opening bold and brassy statements. “What's the point of doing anything?...If I can't show it, you can't see me. Watch me jump right off the London bridge.” Clark sings, opening up to the reader about how society today posts countless thoughts on social media and how society depends on social reassurance to function properly. She asks, if everyone on social media doesn't care, what's the point of doing it?
These songs are an open and promising trajectory to the amazing and hyper-poetic album of St.Vincent. Her lyrics here are doing something that they've never before touched—they are giving the listener a peak into Clark’s poetic and beautifully quirky mind. She talks about her loneliness, her numbness from the work she does, anthems to her mother, things she wishes she would have said, etc. Clark’s latest album is one of the most relatable albums concerning young adults; some may dismiss the album as a completely weird and outlandish statement. However, they fail to let the rhythmic and intricate melodies move them and dive into the lyrics to see that Clark has regrets, family, issues and feelings that she brings to the table; a table that may not be too different from the one you and your family dine at.
Here is a different yet similar opinion on Annie Clark’s St.Vincent
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