Between podcasting, advising rising stars and debating Steely Dan, St. Vincent has been at work on a follow-up to her 2021 album Daddy's Home with contributors including Dave Grohl and Cate Le Bon.
Select details about the yet-to-be-titled seventh LP from Annie Clark have been revealed in a new report from MOJO. Clark also confirmed that new Foo Fighters drummer and longtime session star Josh Freese also appears on the album, rounding out what she calls "a pretty tight little Wrecking Crew," invoking the legendary studio ensemble.
The report notes that the LP will mark Clark's first self-produced album. It was worked on in spaces including her own Compound Fracture studio in Los Angeles, New York's Electric Lady studio, and Steve Albini's Electrical Audio in Chicago.
"I needed to go deeper in finding my own sonic vocabulary," Clark told MOJO. "I like to think of [the record] as post-plague pop, it's a lot about heaven and hell – the metaphorical kinds. Which is appropriate, because sitting alone in a studio for that many hours I would say is a version of hell."
What does "post-plague pop" sound like? MOJO's report points to the appearance of "'70s and '80s analogue synths," and as Clark reveals, "lots of guitars." She expanded, "It sounds urgent and psychotic, in equal parts the most caustic sound and also, I think, the most sonically blooming. It's high stakes and intentional."
"The last record, I was approaching tough subjects with a lot of biting humour and wit," she said. "I put on a wig, I was prancing around, it was so fun. This record is darker and harder and more close to the bone. I'd say it's my least funny record yet! There's nothing cute about it."
St. Vincent landed on the cover of Exclaim! magazine upon the release of Daddy's Home.
