St Vincent : "All Born Screaming"

You never know what to expect from here. The single "Broken Man" made sense as it was angular and quirky much like a great deal of her previous work. Then the next thing I saw was a clip of her playing around with a Moog, Yet the album opens in a manner that makes you think she is going in a more Tori Amons-like direction until midway into the second song when she breaks from the minimalist emoting for an almost industrial beat. Clark who produced this album herself calls it post-plague pop. That makes more sense than not. \

 There is a more electronic vibe that bleeds into the hushed groove of "Flea". This album is odd but well-produced. It is hard to tell if it is all synth or if guitar is present in the mix. There is more of a Bjork-like groove to "Big Time Nothing'. It almost feels like Bowie's "Fame" in some respects. But if you are getting compared to Bowie and Bjork, you are obviously doing something right. 'Violent Times' sounds like it should be a James Bond theme. You can not deny the fact that over the years she has matured into quite the singer. 

"The Powers Out" finds her crooning through a Kate Bush-influenced ballad that carries all the atmosphere and melodrama that comes with such a comparison.  "Sweetest Fruit" is like some kind of weird 90s indie pop, which must be what she is talking about when she calls this post-plague pop. The Dvinyls come to mind in this regard, but there are also lots of Talking Heads vibes. She was obviously smoking lots of pot when she wrote the reggae-influenced "So Many Planets". There is a similar 70s New York New Wave feel to the title track that closes the album. Not her hookiest album, but it does have something to say and covers a great deal of stylistic ground while staying true to a theme. I will give this album a 9.5, and see how it grows on me. 

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