St. Vincent Premieres "Birth in Reverse" Music Video
St. Vincent has shared the music video for “Birth in Reverse,” a track off of her 2014 self-titled album.
Annie Clark (St. Vincent) has had a great year; her album even landed in Guitar World's50 Best Albums of 2014.
The minimalist guitarist's style comes through on “Birth in Reverse,” the video for which was directed by Willo Perron.
“It’s funny that you would categorize it as minimalist,” she told Guitar World in the Holiday 2014 issue. “In the context of guitar rock, I could see what I do as being minimal. But in the context of pop music, it’s pushing the level of muso—pushing the limits of what people are hearing in pop music.”
Fair enough. St. Vincent’s robotic, yet oddly vulnerable, post-modern pop songs are packed with subtle complexities, spiky discordant horn charts, polyrhythmic dance grooves and moments of Bowie-esque alien grandeur.
In an overtly electronic landscape, she deploys her guitar as a stealth device, a heat-seeking missile. It sneaks up on you, and startles you at times. What seems like a synth line might turn out to be a guitar. What seems like a guitar might just be the sound of your own imagination. Like a ghost in some Orwellian machine, her guitar is very much an extension of her disarmingly dispassionate, yet somehow highly expressive vocal style.
Get The Pick Newsletter
All the latest guitar news, interviews, lessons, reviews, deals and more, direct to your inbox!
Thank you for reading 5 articles this month**
Join now for unlimited access
US pricing $3.99 per month or $39.00 per year
UK pricing £2.99 per month or £29.00 per year
Europe pricing €3.49 per month or €34.00 per year
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Since 1980, Guitar World has been the ultimate resource for guitarists. Whether you want to learn the techniques employed by your guitar heroes, read about their latest projects or simply need to know which guitar is the right one to buy, Guitar World is the place to look.
“You can only imagine the effect this had on the young Keith Richards and Eric Clapton”: 9 must-hear albums that fueled the British blues guitar boom
“We’ve made something really unique and special”: Thin Lizzy to release first new record in over 40 years – featuring brand new guitar parts from founding member Eric Bell and unheard Phil Lynott vocals