St Vincent tells us about her Spanish-language album ‘Todos Nacen Gritando’: “It was a beautiful exercise”

nme.com:

St Vincent has shared new single ‘El Mero Cero’ and spoken to NME about translating her latest album ‘All Born Screaming’ into Spanish, being inspired by art, and if she might be getting even heavier on her next record.The Tulsa-born artist released ‘All Born Screaming’ back April – with NME hailing the record as “pure, unfiltered Annie Clark” for its heavier sound and unflinching lyrics inspired by the blood-curdling Black Paintings by Spanish Romantic painter Francisco Goya.

NME met Clark in London, where she flicked through a book on Goya’s Black Paintings, considering how they shaped the songs on ‘All Born Screaming’. “The look in his eyes,” she said, her fingers tracing the harrowing image of Saturn Devouring His Son. “That would be ‘Broken Man’.”Clark has translated the entirety of ‘All Born Screaming’ into her Spanish-language debut ‘Todos Nacen Gritando’ – due for release this week, and previewed today by a new version of ‘Big Time Nothing’, ‘El Mero Cero’.“Thematically, this was the right record to [translate],” she said. “This record is essentially about life and death and love.

There’s a lot of iconography. It’s very Catholic, very sacred.”She said she was uncertain if ‘Todos Nacen Gritando’ brought her closer to the Spanish Romantic artist who inspired the album, but she does know it was a way to “selfishly get better at Spanish” while also connecting with her Latin fans. “It’s amazing that people can sing my songs back to me in perfect English,” she told NME. “Why can’t I meet them halfway in their language?”In the process, Clark said discovered her songs shifting and opening up in ways she never expected. “I found the process of translation really enjoyable,” she recalled.Read our full interview with Clark.