'It's Sorrow You Can Jam To': St. Vincent On 'Masseduction'
In the decade since her debut as St. Vincent, Annie Clark has earned some of the rarest honors a rock artist could hope for. Her 2014 self-titled LP won the Grammy for Best Alternative Music Album. She was one of the small handful of artists chosen to perform in Kurt Cobain's place when Nirvana was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Critics have compared her more than once to one of her heroes, David Bowie — and she made a collaborative release with David Byrne, a kindred master of angular, high-concept songwriting.
Still, some things about the rock and roll life haven't changed in that time. Ahead of her latest album, Masseduction (out Friday), Clark made a series of videos satirizing her own press cycles — and in particular, the most tiresome questions asked of women in the arts. The new music doesn't pull punches either: With a production assist from Jack Antonoff, who has co-crafted hits for Lorde and Taylor Swift, Masseduction trades the jagged art-rock on which Clark made her name for something a touch more emotionally direct.
Annie Clark spoke with NPR's Rachel Martin what it
