St. Vincent has announced that her sixth album, “Daddy’s Home,” will be released on May 14. As is usually the case with the tradition-bucking singer-songwriter-guitarist, the new albums comes with a new look, this one a short blonde wig and cocktail dress and a disheveled vibe.
“’Daddy’s Home’ collects stories of being down and out in downtown NYC,” she says in the album announcement. “Last night’s heels on the morning train. Glamour that’s been up for three days straight.”
That description sets the tone for the album’s other theme. The announcement notes that St. Vincent’s father was released from prison in the winter of 2019, at around the time she won two Grammy Awards. “She began writing the songs that would become ‘Daddy’s Home,’” it reads, “closing the loop on a journey that began with his incarceration in 2010, and ultimately led her back to the vinyl her dad had introduced her to during her childhood. The records she has probably listened to more than any other music in her entire life. Music made in sepia-toned downtown New York from 1971-1975: Gritty. Grimy. Sleazy.”
That reference would seem to refer to the proto-punk music spawned in the city during those years, including the New York Dolls, Patti Smith, the Ramones, the Talking Heads and Television — and the album’s closing song (listed below) is named after Candy Darling, a star of several Andy Warhol films during the era who died in 1974. Darling seems to have been an inspiration for the album, as the credits listed in the announcement conclude with: “And Candy Darling lived within and presided over it all.”
The album’s first track is “Pay Your Way in Pain,” with a video directed by Bill Benz.The album was produced by Annie Clark and Jack Antonoff, recorded by Laura Sisk, mixed by Cian Riordan, and mastered by Chris Gehringer. The music was performed by Annie, Jack, Cian, Thomas, Evan Smith, Sam KS, Greg Leisz, Daniel Hart, Michael Leonhard, Lynne Fiddmont and Kenya Hathaway.
Tracklist
- Pay Your Way in Pain
- Down and Out Downtown
- Daddy’s Home
- Live on the Dream
- The Melting of The Sun
- The Laughing Man
- Down
- Somebody Like Me
- My Baby Wants a Baby
- …At the Holiday Party
- Candy Darling
