St. Vincent - All Born Screaming

Don't rush to carry a fire extinguisher - this girl on fire on the cover is all right, that's how it should be.

Anne Clark continues her triumphant discography with new work, this time taking us into something visceral, dark and almost devilish.

All Born Screaming is perhaps the most intriguing album of this year. It is difficult to compare it with anything and fit it into some framework, because almost no one does this today. Album's feigned heaviness and mystical fog completely justify what anyone else would get lost in and seem like a poser who wants to pass off a concept as quality [hello, Portals].

Non-trivial musical moves, mood changes against the backdrop of a very intense narrative, incredible vocal delivery make this album become a single organism with you, penetrating you and making you feel as if you are 12 years old and reading a scary story under the covers. Only now you are no longer 12, and a scary fairy tale is a story about how hard life can be. It didn’t become less scary, but there were more brains to evaluate the message.

This album is a triumph of creativity, an attempt to show versatile nature and amazing musical abilities [the entire album was written and produced by St. Vincent]. In places the album slows down greatly and seems to begin to lose its grip, but each time it deftly returns to form and beautifully brings you to the finale, bowing and retreating into the darkness.

8.4/10