Raw and Personal.
St. Vincent really loves going through big changes in her sound during her eclectic career. Starting off with baroque pop and indie rock in her early albums, then transitioning to more oddball synth-inflected art-pop on her next two albums, and then transitioning once again, going more accessible as she works with Jack Antonoff of all people. So she's definitely an artist that never seems to stay in one place.
And with this album, she does it again, going more for the retro pop and soul that dates around the 60s or the 70s.
Yet here's the thing, going back through this album again and again, the more I find myself loving this a lot, more about that later. As yes, this is retro pastiche and whatnot, but St. Vincent does it justice in an extremely wonderful way.
This leads to St. Vincent herself being more relaxed as ever as she ever been especially on the more raw and restrained tracks, but she does let out some off-the-wall tones like on 'Pay Your Way in Pain' and 'Down'.
Which leads to the production, and I'll say this, there are no production flubs on all these songs, and while the album structure can feel somewhat clunky at spots, it didn't really bother me that much when the production is just this warm and sweet. The sharp synth imbued songs with engaging instrumentals like 'Pay Your Way in Pain', 'Down', and 'Daddy's Home', the lush and grand arrangements like 'Down and Out Downtown', 'My Baby Wants A Baby', 'The Melting Of the Sun', the dreamier cuts like 'Live In The Dream', 'The Laughing Man', 'Candy Darling', and the absolutely raw yet alluring acoustic cuts like 'Somebody Like Me', and '...At The Holiday Party'. Most of the tone of this is also lifted with the backing vocals that help really well with the retro aesthetic that St. Vincent is aiming for.
And the reason why it works so much is through the content. It's personal, as most of the album tackles her celebration towards the female figures that have rattled power structures, as well as musing upon how she wants to keep that independence to do a lot of things despite the delusions of marriage, domestication, and the struggle to just survive in a world that will put her down. And the other major importance is the 'Daddy' part of things, symbolizing how she can have that sense of strength by just being herself, and extending it even more with her father who gets out of prison, and how it seems to reflect on her as she does have that strength which meshes in with the theme surrounding femininity, it's celebration, and the struggles of it.
Overall... I just love this album all throughout, from the rich and warm production and instrumentation, the personal lyrics, the relaxed yet strident performances of St. Vincent, and the melodies that latch on to me for days. Just a wondrous album, an album-of-the-year contender for sure.
Favorite Tracks: All of them.
Least Favorite Track: None of them.