St. Vincent is on the cover of the January issue of Guitar World. In an interview, Annie Clark discusses the beginnings of her career, as well as her work on the follow-up her excellent self-titled album from 2014. The new album does not yet have a name, but it’s “due for release this spring” and Clark believes it to be a “‘real sea change’ in her sound.”
“I’ve been able to step back and reflect and not just be in the tour, record, tour, record cycle that I’ve been in for about 10 years. I think it’ll be the deepest, boldest work I’ve ever done,” Clark said about the new album. She continued, “I feel the playing field is really open for creative people to do whatever you want, and that risk will be rewarded—especially now that we have such high stakes from a political and geo-political standpoint. The personal is political and therefore the political can’t help but influence the art. And only music that has something pretty real to say is gonna cut the mustard.”
Clark also made a statement with her appearance on the Guitar World cover itself; past “buyer’s guide” editions of the magazine have featured scantily-clad women displaying the guitars. On her cover, Clark holds her signature Ernie Ball guitar and wears a tongue-in-cheek bikini t-shirt, making her “own absurdist comment” on the magazine’s past. Check out the cover here.
