a kaleidoscopic record that shifts from outbursts of joy to atmospheric, lynchian darkness – sometimes emerging gently on a softly sung seam, sometimes astride a dirty funk-throbbing bassline, and occasionally barging its way in with a muscular, almost industrial, pistoning.

but, whatever form it takes, it’s evidently the astonishing work of anne erin clark (aka st. vincent) through and through. her first fully self-produced album, ‘all born screaming’ is st vincent at her most primal. featuring clark leading “a curated group of rippers” through the brawny “broken man,” the mordant catwalk sashay through the deafening assault of self-loathing that is “big time nothing,” the sublime, elegiac earworm “sweetest fruit,” ‘all born screaming’ is equal parts spiritual desolation and rapturous acceptance. “if you’re born screaming, that’s a great sign,” says clark, “because it means you’re breathing. you’re alive. my god. it’s joyous. and then it’s also a protest. we’re all born in protest in a certain way. it’s terrifying to be alive, it’s ecstatic to be alive. it’s everything.”