St. Vincent Shares a Sinister New ‘All Born Screaming’ Single,“Flea”

This spring, St. Vincent returns with her seventh—and first self-produced—studio album, All Born Screaming (April 26, Total Pleasure Records / Virgin Music Group), and our second preview of the LP is out now in the form of “Flea,” featuring Dave Grohl and Justin Meldal-Johnsen.

Where 2021’s Grammy-winning Daddy’s Home found St. Vincent time-traveling to 1970s New York City, even recording the throwback LP at Electric Lady Studios, All Born Screaming’s advance tracks, “Broken Man” and now “Flea,” suggest a strikingly modern industrial-rock feel. Annie Clark handles vocals and all the instruments on the new single save drums and bass, played by Grohl and Meldal-Johnsen, respectively. The track arrived on Thursday alongside a lyric video with behind-the-scenes footage from the recording of All Born Screaming.

Over a hypnotic palm-muted guitar riff and what sounds like a synth-bass loop, Clark assumes the titular bloodsucker’s perspective, warning, “Once I’m in, you can’t get rid of me.” Grohl and Meldal-Johnsen’s punishing low end comes on strong in the choruses, where Clark unleashes on her fretboard and lays everlasting claim to her prey: “Drip you in diamonds, pour you in cream / You will be mine for eternity.” Depending on your perspective, “Flea” is either a twisted love song, a venomous sendup of music-industry exploitation or an unholy amalgam of the two.

Although Clark is taking a leap by self-producing her album for the first time, she isn’t doing it alone: In addition to Foo Fighters frontman Grohl and former Nine Inch Nails touring member Meldal-Johnsen, All Born Screaming features contributions from Rachel Eckroth, Josh Freese, Mark Guiliana, Cate Le Bon, Stella Mogzawa and David Ralicke. St. Vincent will support the album with a North American headlining tour later this year.

Find those dates down below our Fresh Squeeze Playlist, along with All Born Screaming’s tracklist. You can preorder the album here.

You can hear new music from artists you won’t hear on commercial radio, including St. Vincent, on our Music Discovery radio station, The Independent on 89.9 HD4 in jacksonville and streaming everywhere here.