St Vincent – New York (from the album Masseduction, Loma Vista Recordings/Caroline)
It’s good to have St Vincent in the world. And it’s good to have St Vincent back in pop music. I imagine most people’s view of this song will be coloured by the staggering video which is a breathtaking pop art meets surrealist confection directed by Alex Da Corte. But for me this song nods back to her first album a little when the music was as baroque and intriguing as her choice of moniker. In particular the moment the massed bank of St Vincents in the chorus sing these lines - I have lost a hero I have lost a friend One of this year's anthems I can feel it in my bones. I wonder if those lines are a reference to David Bowie but the uplift of emotion is glorious in any case. It could just be a love letter to the home of art pop. Or a hymn to motherfuckers everywhere. Legend.