St. Vincent – “Broken Man”

St. Vincent online.

Rating: 3 out of 4.

The music video CGI fire is really bad in an otherwise interesting and, ultimately, catchy song. The fire is not St. Vincent’s fault. Great chrous melody. Nine Inch Nails doesn’t have a monopoly on industrial drums, yet Annie Clark is smart to build up the song’s dynamics with crunchy riffs and a great drummer so that “Broken Man” doesn’t fall victim to quote unquote warehouse vibes. I forget that Clark is a great yeller. I imagine “Broken Man” will sound better within the album’s context. I also like that I once again don’t understand what a St. Vincent song is “about,” which is what plagued her last album (which I interviewed her about for Vulture and had a stern yet interesting conversation). Got to love the guitar nerds who don’t care about modern trends aka thank goodness that this song isn’t produced by Jack Antonoff.

-Brady Gerber

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