All Born Screaming

All Born Screaming is the seventh studio album by American musician St. Vincent (AKA Annie Clark), released on April 26, 2024 through Clark's own Total Pleasure Records and distributed via Virgin Music Group. The album was self-produced by Clark and features musical contributions from several notable artists. It was preceded by three singles: "Broken Man", "Flea" and "Big Time Nothing".

Background and promotion
On February 16, 2024, Clark first spoke about the record, saying how she "needed to go deeper in finding [her] own 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 additional mixing by Cian Riordan. The record features contributions from Dave Grohl, Cate Le Bon, Justin Meldal-Johnsen, Josh Freese, Stella Mozgawa, Rachel Eckroth, Mark Guiliana, and David Ralicke of Dengue Fever. 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 rock" piece, on February 29, 2024, along with a music video 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.

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 machines and modular synths 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 on psychedelics.

All Born Screaming was recorded at six studios in three cities, including Clark's own Compound Fracture studio in Los Angeles, Electric Lady Studios in New York and Electrical Audio in Chicago. 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, noise rock, baroque, funk, chamber pop and electronica.

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 track that Clark says reminds her of the "early '90s London … The Prodigy, sort of, like, rave 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". The track "Sweetest Fruit" includes an ode to Sophie, a music producer whom Clark admired and who died in 2021, and is about "people trying for transcendence, and at least they were taking a big swing or trying for something beautiful".

Critical reception
All Born Screaming received a score of 89 out of 100 on review aggregator Metacritic based on 20 critics' reviews, which the website categorized as "universal acclaim".

In a five-star review, Alexis Petridis of The Guardian 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 and Nine Inch Nails while adding her own unique ideas to avoid swerving into "90s revivialism". The Independent 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 work Daddy's Home. iNews 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 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 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 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, praised the vulnerability displayed by Clark with lyrics "besieged by loss", making the album her "most generous and open statement yet".

Personnel
Musicians
 * Annie Clark – lead vocals (all tracks), synthesizer (tracks 1–3, 5–8, 10), bass (1, 4–8); 12-string guitar, acoustic guitar, electric piano (1); drum programming (2–10), guitar (3–10), modular synthesizer (3, 6); background vocals, organ (4); contrabass (6), theremin (9)
 * Justin Meldal-Johnsen – bass (tracks 1–4, 6, 8–10), synthesizer (1, 9); drum programming, guitar (2, 10); electric upright bass (2), background vocals (4), contrabass (6), percussion (7), effects (9), tambourine (10)
 * Rachel Eckroth – upright piano (track 1), keyboards (2, 9); organ, piano (2)
 * Josh Freese – drums (tracks 1, 9)
 * Dave Grohl – drums (tracks 3, 4)
 * Cian Riordan – drums (tracks 3, 5), bass (6–8)
 * Mark Guiliana – drums (tracks 3, 6)
 * David Ralicke – saxophone (track 3), horns (5, 6, 8, 9)
 * Cate Le Bon – bass (tracks 7, 10), background vocals (10)
 * Stella Mozgawa – drums (track 10)

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