From Silk Sonic’s beige flares to Dua Lipa’s dance-fuelled Future Nostalgia, you might think we’re on Top of the Pops. Perhaps the short blonde bob, green velvet suit and popped collar St Vincent wears below blinking disco lights in her new music video will strengthen those suspicions. Although bright, kaleidoscope blinking bulbs isn’t something we’ve seen since Abba paved the way, it seems music’s down for a 70s revival. And Annie Clark, otherwise known as individualistic guitarist St Vincent, might take her new album with it.
With a series of retro posters, Clark teased a new spin on her sixth LP. As virtuosic a player as she is, the guitarist has hinted at plans to honour past legends in a new angle to her catalogue:
“I was interested in going back to the music I’ve listened to more than any other,” she told Mojo late last year. “Stevie Wonder records from the early Seventies, Sly and the Family Stone. I studied at the feet of those masters.”
The first two singles released have been ‘Pay Your Way in Pain’ and ‘The Melting Sun,’ both debuted last week on Saturday Night Live. The performances marked the first time Clark hasn’t sung her own backup vocals. The record is to be loose and groovy, a new aesthetic met from relaxing her own input of vocal harmony and doubling.
But Stevie Wonder isn’t Clark’s only influence for the record. ‘The Melting Sun’ is said to be a “love letter to strong, brilliant female artists,” Clark told Rolling Stone. From the influence of Joni Mitchell and Marilyn Monroe, Clark strove to highlight the strength and defiance in both women, including their survival of hostile people who wouldn’t let them have their say:
“Each of them survived in an environment that was in a lot of ways hostile to them.”
Daddy’s Home will be released 14 May 2021. From trippy Seventies animation to bright vintage clothing, St Vincent’s music videos certainly match the euphoric sound of her album’s first two singles. With twelve tracks still to come, there’s hope for more funk and soul to add to music’s retro dive.
Featured image cred: NME
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