“Every record I make has an archetype. Strange Mercy was Housewives on Pills. St. Vincent was Near-Future Cult Leader. MASSEDUCTION is different, it’s pretty first person. You can’t fact-check it, but if you want to know about my life, listen to this record.” With these words from the new album’s official press release, Annie Clark, better known as St. Vincent, introduces her newest album, MASSEDUCTION, out now via Loma Vista Recordings.
With help from collaborators including Jenny Lewis and Kamasi Washington, and co-producer Jack Antonoff, St. Vincent crafted the thirteen tracks on her third album from notes, sketches, text messages, and voice memos she’d collected over the last few years. The result is an emotional, autobiographical art-rock trip into the life of one of today’s most talented musicians.
St. Vincent begins from her own experience but extrapolates to speak about the the industry and society she is a part of. “But you know what the worst [interview question] is?” Clarke told Rachel Martin on NPR’s Morning Edition. She continued:
And it’s not the worst because it doesn’t need to be spoken about, it’s that the answer ought to be so nuanced that you’d need a semester of university to unpack it: “What’s it like to be a woman in music?” Well, it means that you get asked about what it’s like to be a woman in music. There’s no good answer. You’re kind of forced into one of two narratives if you’re not quick on your feet — one of which is the narrative of hierarchy, of victimhood, and then the other is like, “Why do you deserve a spot at the table?”
Watch two videos off the new album below!
