St. Vincent's New Track Rags on the Digital Age

Powerful sprite Annie Clark has released another new song today from her upcoming album, St. Vincent , a biting track titled "Digital Witness" which features some heavy cynicism about our digital obsessions: "Digital witnesses/ What’s the point of even sleeping/ If I can’t show it, you can’t see me/ What’s the point of doing anything." Ever the cultural critic, Clark pairs her message about the need to be watched and seen in the era of social media with great brass horns, something she no doubt picked up from Talking Heads frontman David Byrne, with whom she made the incredibly funky, incredibly fun album Love This Giant (2012).

This is Clark's first solo album, though, since 2011's Strange Mercy. Early in December Clark released the first song from the upcoming record, titled "Birth in Reverse," which also did not disappoint lyrically: "Oh what an ordinary day/ Take out the garbage, masturbate/ I'm still holding for the laugh." Clark knows how to capture a mundane, dark humor but still make a dance-y track. In fact, she said herself of forthcoming St. Vincent, she "wanted to make a party record you could play at a funeral." Bonus: the "video" for "Digital Witness" seems like a promo still, until you realize Clark is twitching a little bit. You're witnessing her digitally! And she's gone and dyed her fantastic curly mop a silver grey, making her even more surreal. St. Vincent drops on February 24/25; you can pre-order the album at ilovestvincent.com.