''All Born Screaming'' is the seventh studio album by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

musician

St. Vincent Saint Vincent may refer to: People Saints * Vincent of Saragossa (died 304), a.k.a. Vincent the Deacon, deacon and martyr * Saint Vincenca, 3rd century Roman martyress, whose relics are in Blato, Croatia * Vincent, Orontius, and Victor (died 305 ...

, released on April 26, 2024, through her own Total Pleasure Records and distributed via

Virgin Music Group Virgin Music Group (VMG) is a global music distributor of independent record labels founded on 13 September 2022, and owned by Universal Music Group. History On 18 February 2021, Universal Music Group announced Virgin Music Label & Artist Servi ...

. The album was self-produced and features musical contributions from several notable artists. It was preceded by three singles: "Broken Man", "Flea" and "Big Time Nothing". The album won three of its four nominations at the

67th Annual Grammy Awards The 67th Annual Grammy Awards honored the best recordings, compositions, and artists from September 16, 2023, to August 30, 2024, as chosen by the members of the Recording Academy, on February 2, 2025. In its 22nd year at Crypto.com Arena in L ...

Best Alternative Music Album The Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album is an award presented to recording artists for quality albums in the alternative genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Ho ...

, Best Rock Song for "Broken Man", and Best Alternative Music Performance for "Flea". A Spanish re-recording of the album, titled '' Todos Nacen Gritando'', was released on November 15, 2024, followed by a special Japanese edition with live bonus tracks. The album debuted at number 86 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 selling 10,000 pure album sales in its first week.

Background and promotion

On February 16, 2024, Clark first spoke about the record, saying how she "needed to go deeper in finding erown sonic vocabulary" and referring to the album as "post-plague pop". ''All Born Screaming'' marks the first studio album entirely produced by Clark herself, alongside mixing by Cian Riordan. The record features contributions from

Dave Grohl David Eric Grohl (; born January 14, 1969) is an American musician. He founded the rock band Foo Fighters, of which he is the lead singer, guitarist, principal songwriter, and only consistent member. From 1990 to 1994, he was the drummer of th ...

and

Josh Freese Joshua Ryan Freese (born December 25, 1972) is an American drummer. A member of punk rock band the Vandals since 1989, Freese has also been a member of new wave band Devo since 1996. He was previously a member of hard rock band Guns N' Roses ...

Foo Fighters The Foo Fighters are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Initially founded as a one-man project by former Nirvana (band), Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, the band comprises vocalist/guitarist Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, gu ...

, Cate Le Bon,

Justin Meldal-Johnsen Justin Meldal-Johnsen (born March 26, 1970) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter and musical director. He is best known for his work with artists such as Beck, Nine Inch Nails, M83, Air, St. Vincent, Wolf Alice, and Deafheave ...

Stella Mozgawa Stella Mozgawa is an Australian drummer and record producer, best known as a member of the indie rock band Warpaint, with whom she has recorded four studio albums. Alongside her work with Warpaint, Mozgawa is one half of the electronica duo Bel ...

of Warpaint, Rachel Eckroth,

Mark Guiliana Mark Guiliana (born September 2, 1980) is an American drummer, composer and leader of the band Beat Music. He has played with Avishai Cohen, Brad Mehldau, David Bowie, Meshell Ndegeocello, Gretchen Parlato, Jason Lindner, Lionel Loueke, Dhafe ...

, and David Ralicke of

Dengue Fever Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne disease caused by dengue virus, prevalent in tropical and subtropical areas. Asymptomatic infections are uncommon, mild cases happen frequently; if symptoms appear, they typically begin 3 to 14 days after i ...

. Trying to explain the sound of the album, Clark compared it to "taking the long walk into the woods alone" in order to find the messages of your heart. As a result, she opined that it "sounds real because it is real". Clark shared the lead single "Broken Man", an " industrial menacing

" piece, on February 29, 2024, along with a

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

directed by Alex Da Corte. During the video, she bursts into flames, an image that is also depicted as the album artwork. A second single, "Flea", was released on March 28, the same day the All Born Screaming Tour was officially announced. A Japanese edition, with live bonus tracks, was announced to be released on December 25, 2024.

Writing and recording

As soon as St Vincent's previous studio album, '' Daddy's Home'' (2021), was released, Clark immediately began writing for its follow-up. Clark began experimenting with

drum machine A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...

s and

modular synthesizers Modular synthesizers are synthesizers composed of separate modules for different functions. The modules can be connected together by the user to create a patch (synthesizer), patch. The outputs from the modules may include audio signals, analo ...

where she said she ended up making "hours and hours of esoteric post- industrial dance music" on her own. During this experimentation period, Clark got into

microdosing Microdosing, or micro-dosing, involves the administration of sub-therapeutic doses of drugs to study their effects in humans, aiming to gather preliminary data on safety, pharmacokinetics, and potential therapeutic benefits without producing s ...

psychedelic drug Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states (known as psychedelic experiences or "trips") and a perceived "expansion of consciousness". Also referred to as classic halluc ...

s. ''All Born Screaming'' was recorded at six studios in three cities, including Clark's own Compound Fracture studio in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Electric Lady Studios Electric Lady Studios is a recording studio in Greenwich Village, New York City. It was commissioned by rock musician Jimi Hendrix in 1968 and designed by architect John Storyk and audio engineer Eddie Kramer. It was completed by 1970. Hendrix ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

and Electrical Audio in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. It is her first self-produced album. Clark felt a need to self-produce the album as there "were sounds in my head that, really, only ''I'' could render" and wanting to be seen as a singular artist with greater control over her own work. ''Paste'' described ''All Born Screaming'' as "career-spanning time capsule harboring the flourishes of her greatest eras" that incorporates elements of

lounge Lounge may refer to: Architecture * Lounge, the living room of a dwelling * Lounge, a public waiting area in a hotel's lobby * Lounge, a style of commercial alcohol- bar * Airport lounge or train lounge (e.g., Amtrak's Acela Lounge), a premium ...

noise rock Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise music, noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimal music, minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, a ...

baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

chamber pop Chamber pop (also called baroque pop and sometimes conflated with orchestral pop or symphonic pop) is a music genre that combines rock music with the intricate use of strings, horns, piano, and vocal harmonies, and other components drawn from t ...

and

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

. Regarding the album's title, Clark noted: "We're all born in some ways against our will. But at the same time, if you're born screaming, it's a great sign – it's a sign you're alive. We're all born in protest, so screaming is what it means to be alive". Clark elaborated: "I've known I was going to make a record called ''All Born Screaming'' since I was 23, but I just wasn't ready. I wasn't really worthy of the title, 'cause you have to live a lot to be worthy of a title that really says it all. It's the beauty, it's the brutality, and it's all part of the same continuum". "Big Time Nothing" is synth and bass-driven funky

dance-pop Dance-pop is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit ra ...

track that Clark says reminds her of the "early '90s

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

…

The Prodigy The Prodigy are an English electronic music band formed in Braintree, Essex, in 1990 by producer, keyboardist, and songwriter Liam Howlett. The original line-up also featured Rapping, MC and vocalist Maxim (musician), Maxim, dancer and occasi ...

, sort of, like,

rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...

moment". The track's verse, which is delivered in a spoken-word style, came from Clark's own "constant inner monologue of depression and

anxiety Anxiety is an emotion characterised by an unpleasant state of inner wikt:turmoil, turmoil and includes feelings of dread over Anticipation, anticipated events. Anxiety is different from fear in that fear is defined as the emotional response ...

". The track "Sweetest Fruit" includes an ode to the late music producer

Sophie Sophie is a feminine given name, another version of Sophia, from the Greek word for "wisdom". People with the name Born in the Middle Ages * Sophie, Countess of Bar (c. 1004 or 1018–1093), sovereign Countess of Bar and lady of Mousson * Soph ...

, who died in 2021 and whom Clark admired, and is about "people trying for transcendence, and at least they were taking a big swing or trying for something beautiful". The artist admitted recording over a hundred vocal takes for "Hell is Near": "That was a song that if I didn’t bow before it, it just wouldn’t happen. I sang it 100 times. The chorus is bare … and I have to actually be there to sing it and for it to be real and not throw a bunch of ego or bullshit".

Critical reception

''All Born Screaming'' received a score of 89 out of 100 on review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

based on 20 critics' reviews, which the website categorized as "universal acclaim". In a five-star review,

Alexis Petridis Alexis Petridis (born 13 September 1971) is an English journalist. He is the head Rock music, rock and pop music critic for ''The Guardian'', and a regular contributor for ''GQ''. In addition to his music journalism for the paper, he has written ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' praised Clark's "beautifully honed skill as a songwriter" and the "personality she imprints across the album". Petridis highlights how Clark takes inspiration from the music of her youth such as

Tori Amos Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She is a classically trained musician with a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Having already begun composing instrumental pieces on piano, Amos won a full ...

and

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN (stylized as NIИ), is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1988. Its members are the singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Trent Reznor and his frequent col ...

while adding her own unique ideas to avoid swerving into "90s revivialism". ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' in their four-star review praised the album's runtime and cohesion as a "tight and digestible affair" with Clark allowing herself "a bit of indulgence" on the seven-minute album closing track that builds over time. Some reviews noted how ''All Born Screaming'' departs from the 1970s rock of Clark's previous studio album ''Daddy's Home''. ''

iNews iNews, short for ''Indonesia News'', formerly named Sun TV and Sindo TV, is an Indonesian free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the approp ...

'' called it a "striking departure" with praise for the album's lyrical themes that draw on "experiences of death and loss, and references to mortality abound". Similarly, the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' commended Clark's ability to undergo a Bowie-esque reinvention with a "rebirth" that focusses less on taking on a persona and more on writing songs that cut "very close to the bone". Shaad D'Souza of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'' felt that the two singles that preceded the album, "Flea" and "Broken Man", do not accurately represent the album's "sensitive and introspective" moments. ''

The Line of Best Fit ''The Line of Best Fit'' is an independent online magazine based in London, concentrating on new music. It publishes independent music reviews, features, interview, and media. Founded by Richard Thane in February 2007 and currently edited by P ...

'' concurred with this sentiment. D'Souza called ''All Born Screaming'' Clark's "most hopeful record to date". Jordan Bassett, in a four-star review for ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'', praised the vulnerability displayed by Clark with lyrics "besieged by loss", making the album her "most generous and open statement yet". The album won three of its four nominations at the

, Best Rock Song for "Broken Man", and Best Alternative Music Performance for "Flea".

Year-end lists

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians * Annie Clark – lead vocals (all tracks), synthesizer (tracks 1–3, 5–8, 10), bass (1, 4–8);

twelve-string guitar A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 string (music), strings in six Course (music), courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lo ...

, acoustic guitar,

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument that has a piano-style musical keyboard, where sound is produced by means of mechanical hammers striking metal strings or reeds or wire tines, which leads to vibrations which are then converted into ele ...

(1); drum programming (2–10), guitar (3–10),

modular synthesizer Modular synthesizers are synthesizers composed of separate modules for different functions. The modules can be connected together by the user to create a patch. The outputs from the modules may include audio signals, analog control voltages, ...

(3, 6); backing vocals, organ (4);

contrabass Contrabass (from ) refers to several musical instruments of very low pitch—generally one octave below bass register instruments. While the term most commonly refers to the double bass (which is the bass instrument in the orchestral string family ...

(6),

theremin The theremin (; originally known as the ætherphone, etherphone, thereminophone or termenvox/thereminvox) is an electronic musical instrument controlled without physical contact by the performer (who is known as a thereminist). It is named aft ...

(9) *

– bass (tracks 1–4, 6, 8–10), synthesizer (1, 9); drum programming, guitar (2, 10);

electric upright bass The electric upright bass (EUB) is an instrument that can perform the musical function of a double bass. It requires only a minimal or 'skeleton' body to produce sound because it uses a pickup and electronic amplifier and loudspeaker. Therefore, ...

(2), backing vocals (4), contrabass (6), percussion (7), effects (9),

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thoug ...

(10) * Rachel Eckroth –

upright piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an action mechanism where hammers strike strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a chromatic scale in equal temper ...

(track 1), keyboards (2, 9); organ, piano (2) *

– drums (tracks 1, 9) *

– drums (tracks 3, 4) * Cian Riordan – drums (tracks 3, 5), bass (6–8) *

– drums (tracks 3, 6) * David Ralicke – saxophone (track 3), horns (5, 6, 8, 9) * Cate Le Bon – bass (tracks 7, 10), backing vocals (10) *

– drums (track 10) Technical *

–

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

* Ruairi O'Flaherty – mastering * Cian Riordan – mixing, engineering * Justin Meldal-Johnsen – engineering (tracks 1, 2, 7–10)

Charts

''Todos Nacen Gritando''

''Todos Nacen Gritando'' is a

Spanish-language Spanish () or Castilian () is a Romance languages, Romance language of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family that evolved from the Vulgar Latin spoken on the Iberian Peninsula of Europe. Today, it is a world language, gl ...

version of ''All Born Screaming'', released on November 15, 2024. It is Clark's first Spanish language project, saying she wanted to "offer a little thanks to Spanish-language fans who have met me in my native tongue for seven records". Clark enlisted her friend Alan Del Rio Ortiz to help with translating the album's lyrics. The first single, "Hombre Roto", was released on September 20.

Track listing

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:All Born Screaming 2024 albums St. Vincent (musician) albums Virgin Music Group albums Albums produced by St. Vincent (musician) Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album Industrial rock albums Industrial albums by American artists Progressive rock albums by American artists