Daddy's Home - St. Vincent: Review
St. Vincent
is the stage name of versatile singer and songwriter Annie Clark. She first gained notoriety with early indie and art pop records during the late 2000's and early 2010's. In 2014 she released her self-titled and most critically acclaimed project to date pivoting to a harsher more synthetic sound. We last heard from Annie in studio album form in 2017 with her glam rock flavored MASSEDUCTION.
Review By Lav:
There are very few singer-songwriter types who have flexed both the sonic versatility of the St. Vincent project as well as the incredible vocal charisma of Annie herself. While I am still a bit iffy on some of the earliest St. Vincent work she was 3/3 with me in the last decade highlighted by her excellent 2014 self-titled record. I has no reason not to be excited for Daddy's Home as it seemed like Annie was making something that was both personal and heavily stylized, plus I liked all of the singles. While there are some minor issues I have here and there with the whole album as a listening experience, for the most part Annie delivers from start to finish here.
Lets get it started with that trio of singles then, because the first in line is among the better tracks I've heard anywhere this year. Pay Your Way In Pain is a 70's glammed up bop with a sensual catchy hook and slick, killer instrumental. Annie dominates the song with her vocal charisma and it wraps up as one of the smoothest track I've ever heard her release as St. Vincent. Down is also a highlight and it's been growing on me quite a bit in the week or so since it first came out. I love the groovy instrumental which features drums popping off a smooth ass bass making for a totally infectious sound. The hook is surprisingly triumphant given the lyrical theme of the song but I love in despite its simplicity. The Melting Of The Sun may be my least favorite single but it is far from a bad song. It has ballad flavoring to it but isn't afraid to go up-tempo both instrumentally and with its refrains when necessary. I love the chorus of backing vocals and they go a long way to making the track very catchy. Even the thick dream pop guitars on the bridge that are completely blowing out the mix just for it to return to a reserved sound right after sounds great.
There are a couple songs on the record I enjoy so much I can't wait another second to talk about them. Down And Out Downtown has a really unique instrumental with quiet steady drums and a washed out sitar passage of all things. It's very relaxed in nature and Annie's vocals are perfectly spacey to match. I think the song stay fresh by switching up its effects and occasionally rushing the vocals right back into the front of the mix in a a hurry. The title track Daddy's Home is another R&B flavored cut with some incredibly bouncy bass. The instrumental is super interesting and honestly Annie's vocals really don't have to take front and center during the verses to keep my attention. Her screaming on the back end honesty sounds right in line with the fills, the track is just strange but in an incredibly refreshing way with charming sensuality and weird structure.
The records incredibly strong start is punctuated by Live In The Dream, a stripped back cut with a desert flavored instrumental and slow developing momentum. This results in the longest song here at around six and a half minutes but I'm comfortable with it taking its time. I adore the loose psychedelic vibes in the instrumental on the back half and it makes the methodical build to that point seem so worth it every time. I didn't anticipate hearing anything quite like this on the record but it's honestly excellent. Generally speaking the lyrical content on the record is dealing in quite personal topics. Obviously the multiple meanings of the "daddy's home" concept come up time and time again but never start to feel like a gimmick. It's on some of the more sparse tracks on the back end where the lyrics really start to come into form and Annie lives up to expectations in that regard too.
My Baby Wants A Baby was a surprising highlight that shows off some of Annie's incredible vocal versatility which almost single handedly gives the whole track a dynamic sound throughout. Lyrically she is pondering themes of relationship and family while also expressing in a roundabout way that she really doesn't want a child which, relatable. At The Holiday Party features some of Annie's most raw vocals on the entire record. It shifts between stark and dense instrumental passages that do a great job of contrasting each other while still providing support to her refrains. The horns on the track are one of my favorite pieces of instrumentation on the entire record.
The Laughing Man is one of the only songs here that gets maybe a bit too lowkey for me particularly in the second half. The drums ae very sparse and often the only thing filling out the instrumental. The refrains can be a bit inconsistent to and makes parts of the song sort of drag. Somebody Like Me has a hazy atmosphere to it that you'll pick up the moment it comes on. The steady drumming and sweet plucking is nice but it's really once some of the instrumental variants pop up on the back half of the song that the sound of the track really takes shape. The only real complaint I have about the song is that I don't see it being one of the better written cuts here. Beyond the cute factor of it I don't think it's one of the records catchiest tracks. The last proper song on the record is Candy Darling, fittingly a tribute to Candy Darling. While I like the song quite a bit there is absolutely no denying that it's 100% a Lana Del Rey track. Maybe the instrumental sounds a bit more cosmic but with the sensual close-up vocals and even the lyrical content screaming Lana, it can be tough to ignore. Obviously the song is still very good borrowing from Lana is generally a good idea.
Daddy's Home is good, very good. It brings a lyrical perspective that is easy to identify and very consistent and sonically it presents one of the most dense and compelling instrumental palettes on any St. Vincent record to date. The songs are expansive but often very catchy which is a credit to Annie's poise as a performer and vocalist. While the record is frontloaded and the brief humming interludes seem a bit out of place both thematically and literally within the tracklist, it's letdowns are merely brief moments in a sea of great songwriting and performances. When all is said and done Annie sounds matured without losing any of her charm and energy and dropped a set of tracks that support each other in all the right ways. 8/10
This cover confuses me. It could have been good but the quality isn't there. The photo could be better, the sepia style filter isn't flattering. The placement and color of the text doesn't support the composition. Knowing St. Vincent's work I was expecting a lot more and ended up disappointed. 4/10
