Annie Clark is now bicoastaly melancholic. Earlier this week, the singer, who preforms under the name “St. Vincent,” released the second single off Masseducation — which now has an Oct. 13 release day.
“Los Ageless” is, in many ways, a companion track to the album’s first single, “New York.” The title is, of course, a riff on Los Angeles. Both are love songs and lamentations, but while the former deals with a love lost, the latter contents with a love never fully formed. “I try to tell you I love and it comes out all sick,” she sings at the end of the song.
Her relationship with the city is as vivid as it is complicated. The city is drawn like an abusive lover, but she’s trapped there, lured in by the sparkle and the sunsets and the superstars. The second verse paints images like “Girls in cages playing their guitars” and “In Los Ageless, the waves they never break / They build and build until you don’t have no escape.”
Off the heals of Melodrama, producer Jack Antonoff and his signature sound are having a moment in pop music. After “Look What You Made Me Do” earlier this month, I thought his punchy bassline and hand clap prechoruses were six feet under. But, it turns out Taylor Swift is dead and Jack Antonoff isn’t going anywhere. The sticky synth and twacking bassline pull the best of ’80s pop, while St. Vincent’s deep, smoky vocals feel acutely current.
The chorus is haunting — “How could anybody have you and lose you?” — she begs again and again. It is, in true St. Vincent fashion, everything that good pop music aspires to be. I can’t get it out of my head. It’s simple and infectious and, yet, I haven’t completely figured it out yet.
[spotify:https://open.spotify.com/album/4lfr675bZ5S56VVwSrVKgt]