For the past week St. Vincent‘s Annie Clark has been teasing her anticipated follow-up to 2017’s MASSEDUCATION. A couple days ago, she announced the album’s title, Daddy’s Home, and earlier today we got the first single “Pay Your Way in Pain.” The track opens with a charming piano melody akin to The Beatles’ “Martha My Dear,” which St. Vincent covered a few months ago. It then descends into a slinky, Young Americans-era Bowie funk romp. There’s also a nice fragment of warped Western guitar, and plenty of soulful shrieks. Like the song, the track’s music video is sexy and sweaty like perspiration on a fresh glass of whiskey on the rocks.
Her sixth album draws inspiration from the grit and grime of late-’70s downtown New York City, which is easy to glamorize now with a freshly pressed Velvet Underground LP spun on an Urban Outfitters’ record player. But at the time, the city was really gross, grimy, and corrupt. “Daddy’s Home collects stories of being down and out in downtown NYC. Last night’s heels on the morning train. Glamour that’s been up for three days straight,” Clark said of the album in the press release. In an interview with Zane Lowe, she also explained that era’s relevancy to today: “Every system of power is crumbling or has crumbled or has failed, and we’re kind of grappling with what the fuck do we do in this new world? It just kind of worked out that way that where we were there and where we are now feel like they’re very simpatico.”
After the track’s premiere, Clark did a Twitter Q&A where she revealed her favorite Joanna Newsom song (“Sprout and the Bean”), a film she turned to during the album’s recording (Opening Night by John Cassavetes), her love of tacos, and what book she’d want to write. She revealed that the hardest track from the album to nail is called “The Melting of the Sun,” and that Daddy’s Home is a pre-disco record. She also had this to say about Daddy’s Home co-producer Jack Antonoff (making this his second St. Vincent album to co-produce): “I love jack to the moon and back. it was nothing but enjoyment making this record with him. and I knew he was a great musician, but I had no idea he could RIP on bass…you’ll see.” You can see all of her answers here.
Daddy’s Home is out May 14 via Loma Vista Records. Pre-order here.
