St. Vincent: The Nowhere Inn

St.Vincents The Nowhere Inn is the soundtrack to our lives. A serene mix of cross genre vibes and classy key changes.

Produced, written and staring musician Annie Clark (St. Vincent) is a mockumentary taking you on a pseudo-road trip that journey through surrealist reveries and awkward humour. Using these tools to comment on the absurdities the music industry brings to the table, this, is the soundtrack.

The 19 song album features not only full songs but also sketches and scores. Title song ‘The Nowhere Inn’ voices the dreamy side of the music industry with introspective and building psychedelic vibes. The production is flawless, manipulating peripherals to create perspective to accompany the storyline.

‘Waiting On Wave’ gives off a largely chaotic energy, exaggerating the unease women in rock go through, questions about their femininity in a male dominated field. Even though, women are the real rock stars.

The last song of note on the album is ‘Texas Choir’ which feels like a revelation point for the writer, after taking you through a haunting journey of heroism and loss. Although only just over a minute in length, the deep choir voices leave the lister in a place of serenity after the heart raising 20 minutes of an emotional rollercoaster the album.

Although an album in its own right and a fantastic one at that, it pines for the listener to watch the mockumentry itself for real insight into what it’s illustrating. It feels like a teaser, an incentive, an itch that needs to be scratched.