St. Vincent has shared the video for The Melting Of The Sun, the second single from her upcoming album Daddy’s Home.
The new track, as well as previous single Pay Your Way In Pain, sees St. Vincent moving away from her usual blend of eccentric contemporary pop to 70s-inspired indie, while borrowing inspiration from heritage acts such as David Bowie, Pink Floyd and Lou Reed – and the accompanying video to The Melting Of The Sun carries on the theme. Incorporating technicolour visuals and trippy animations inspired by US animation series Schoolhouse Rock, The Melting Of The Sun is a psychedelic time-warp back to the Free Love era of the hippie counterculture movement.
More influences come through via odes to the song’s lyrical icons, such as the opening card that implies the vintage-inspired video was “unearthed” by “Candy’s Music Video Archives” — a reference to 70s Warhol superstar Candy Darling.
Featuring lyrics that credit figures such as Marilyn Monroe, with the line 'My Marilyn shot her heroin / Hell, she's said "it's better than abuse', The Melting Of The Sun, directed by both St. Vincent and Bill Benz, pays tribute to the women exploited by the entertainment industry.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, St. Vincent explains “[That song] in particular is a love letter to strong, brilliant female artists. Each of them survived in an environment that was in a lot of ways hostile to them.”
In the latter part of 2020, St. Vincent joined forces with Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl to perform a cover Nine Inch Nails' tracks Closer and Piggy, in celebration of the industrial metal band being inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. That cover, alongside a rendition of Metallica's Sad But True, will be available to purchase on a 7" vinyl in June in conjunction with Record Store Day.
Daddy’s Home is set for release May 14 via Loma Vista Recordings, and is now available for pre-order.
Watch the video below:
