St Vincent - Daddy’s Home //Album Review
Let me start by admitting that this is the first St Vincent album I’ve listened to, ever. So I’m coming at this as a St Vincent virgin, for the most part, which is embarrassing to admit when this is her 6th album release.
The album opens up with the first single release “Pay Your Way In Pain”. While listening to this, no one would blame you for kicking down the saloon door of a bar in huge 70’s platforms and hot pants and demanding a tequila sunrise, because that’s what this song was made for. “The mothers saw my heels and they said I wasn’t welcome” - let’s hear it for the outcasts, and all outcasts have felt their fair share of shame and pain.
St Vincent started writing these songs in 2019, when her father was released from prison after serving nearly a decade sentence, and the album became heavily influenced by her father’s old record collection. These are the sounds from the 70s she was introduced to as a child, including soul, psychedelia and funk which are a clear influence. On the second track “Down And Out Downtown” we are introduced to the unmistakable sound of the electric sitar, and parts of the song remind me of Gil Scott-Heron’s early work.
The title track features an electric accordion, and we are given an idea of what it was like for the singer visiting her father in prison - “I signed autographs in the visitation room, waitin’ for you for the last time, inmate 502”. The more I listened to the album the more I realised I was being given a very personal account of a likely difficult period in the singer’s life, from nostalgic references to present day conclusions, all swirling around together like a lucid dream. Each time you listen to it you pick up on different things, but the songs all marry together perfectly to take you on what ends up feeling like quite a specific journey.
“Live In The Dream” is the standout piece for me, a clear tribute to Pink Floyd’s infamous Dark Side of The Moon album, which is further confirmed when the next song delivers the opening line “ So sorry, missed the party, hello on the dark side of the moon”. Live in the Dream has a sublime floaty sound, and erupts into a powerful and euphoric chorus which eventually leads us to a sensational guitar solo. I think David Gilmour would approve.
In some cultures the sun represents a father figure and male energy, and I wonder if that has significance with the next track ‘The Melting Of The Sun”, especially as the song is described by St Vincent as a homage to female recording artists of the past who wanted to be heard and were often met with hostility. The melody flows perfectly with a haunting quality to it, and in fact the whole album gives me a feeling of watching a ghostly, sepia ridden home movie.
Nostalgia is, unsurprisingly given the subject matter, a strong theme in the album, which works beautifully with it’s dreamlike psychedelia sound. We are even treated to some ethereal Nick Drake style guitar on “Something Like Me”, a wonderful contrast to the more funk/rock inspired songs that dominate. As the album begins to draw to a close, another stand out track is “… At The Holiday Party” which has a beautiful trumpet piece in the chorus, that washes over you like a secluded lake in the height of summer. This is lyrically a dark song however, detailing the struggles of someone trying to hide from their pain - “Think if you can just keep spinnin’, You won’t miss what you’ve been missin’”.
We finish with the slow serenade of “Candy Darling” seeing the flicker of the old projector and smelling the cigarette smoke as we slowly leave the party behind. “Daddy’s Home” is an exciting and emotional rollercoaster of dreams, memories and heart felt tributes, with a sound that draws clear inspiration from historic musical anthems while managing to be entirely unique. A vital album that comes just in time, as we are hopefully and cautiously leaving such a joyless time in history.
