Earlier this week, a new ad campaign appeared to reveal a new St. Vincent record titled Daddy's Home, and while Annie Clark hasn't officially begun the album rollout yet, she has shared some insight on her latest effort in a new interview.
Speaking with music journalist Ted Kessler for the inaugural issue of newsletter The New Cue, Clark described the forthcoming album as "the sound of being down and out Downtown in New York, 1973. Glamour that hasn't slept for three days."
"In hindsight, I realized that [2017's MASSEDUCTION and its tour were] so incredibly strict, whether it was the outfits I was wearing that literally constricted me, to the show being tight and the music being angular and rigid," she continued. "When I wrapped that, I was like 'oh, I just want things that are fluid and wiggly and I want this music to look like a Cassavetes film.' I wanted it to be warm tones and not really distorted, to tell these stories of flawed people being flawed and doing the best they can. Which is kind of what my life is."
Asked what music she was listening to while writing the new set of songs, Clark shared, "I went back to these records that I probably listened to more in my life than at any other time, music made in New York from 1971-76, typically post-flower child, kick the hippie idealism out of it, America's in a recession but pre-disco, the sort of gritty, raw, wiggly nihilistic part of that. It's not a glamorous time, there's a lot of dirt under the fingernails. It was really about feel and vibe but with song and stories."
Clark also speaks about continuing to work with MASSEDUCTION co-producer Jack Antonoff on the new album.
"I was in Electric Lady Studios in New York and wanted to do this sleazy, grimy record and Jack was fully on board," she shared. "He whipped out some great Wurlitzer playing, super funky, then he'd get on the drums and do totally the right vibe. And then he was playing this fucking awesome bass, ripping it … It was cool to get to see Jack bust out these chops. And same here, I actually have some deep understanding of harmony that I keep to myself most of the time but here I bust it out."
While Clark did not directly confirm the title of the new record to be Daddy's Home, she did offer up how she came to choose it.
"So the nuts and bolts of it is like, my dad got out of prison in 2019. He'd been in for 10 years," she explains. "My first song for it was a story about when I used to go visit him and I would sign crumpled-up Target receipts somebody had left in the visitation room. And, of course, it's incredibly sad, but it's also incredibly absurd so the whole family has found a way to laugh about it. So that was the impetus, I guess."
You can read Clark's complete interview here. The Antonoff-produced lead single from Daddy's Home, "Pay Your Way in Pain," will reportedly arrive March 5.
Speaking with music journalist Ted Kessler for the inaugural issue of newsletter The New Cue, Clark described the forthcoming album as "the sound of being down and out Downtown in New York, 1973. Glamour that hasn't slept for three days."
"In hindsight, I realized that [2017's MASSEDUCTION and its tour were] so incredibly strict, whether it was the outfits I was wearing that literally constricted me, to the show being tight and the music being angular and rigid," she continued. "When I wrapped that, I was like 'oh, I just want things that are fluid and wiggly and I want this music to look like a Cassavetes film.' I wanted it to be warm tones and not really distorted, to tell these stories of flawed people being flawed and doing the best they can. Which is kind of what my life is."
Asked what music she was listening to while writing the new set of songs, Clark shared, "I went back to these records that I probably listened to more in my life than at any other time, music made in New York from 1971-76, typically post-flower child, kick the hippie idealism out of it, America's in a recession but pre-disco, the sort of gritty, raw, wiggly nihilistic part of that. It's not a glamorous time, there's a lot of dirt under the fingernails. It was really about feel and vibe but with song and stories."
Clark also speaks about continuing to work with MASSEDUCTION co-producer Jack Antonoff on the new album.
"I was in Electric Lady Studios in New York and wanted to do this sleazy, grimy record and Jack was fully on board," she shared. "He whipped out some great Wurlitzer playing, super funky, then he'd get on the drums and do totally the right vibe. And then he was playing this fucking awesome bass, ripping it … It was cool to get to see Jack bust out these chops. And same here, I actually have some deep understanding of harmony that I keep to myself most of the time but here I bust it out."
While Clark did not directly confirm the title of the new record to be Daddy's Home, she did offer up how she came to choose it.
"So the nuts and bolts of it is like, my dad got out of prison in 2019. He'd been in for 10 years," she explains. "My first song for it was a story about when I used to go visit him and I would sign crumpled-up Target receipts somebody had left in the visitation room. And, of course, it's incredibly sad, but it's also incredibly absurd so the whole family has found a way to laugh about it. So that was the impetus, I guess."
You can read Clark's complete interview here. The Antonoff-produced lead single from Daddy's Home, "Pay Your Way in Pain," will reportedly arrive March 5.