If the main narrative of Annie Clark's self-titled fourth album as St. Vincent was one of struggle, particularly struggling to escape the icy digital era, then bonus track "Del Rio" is the soundtrack to a weekend flight from the social-media madness. The sort where all cellphones are shut-off, the radio is turned to a hush, and honest conversation takes over.
Albeit, the conversation that frames the staticy "Del Rio" isn't the most idyllic variety available. The escape we hear isn't one of enjoyment, so much as it is necessity. "You told me I looked spent," St. Vincent exasperatedly warbles. The deliverer of this less than stellar news is an apparent "savior", one St. Vincent would gladly rush down to the river with if it meant redemption. And rush she does, all it takes is one simple look and she's afloat on an electronic river. But even in those restorative waters, there's still fear of "getting some strange looks back from the shore." Underpinned by an eerily downcast guitar figure, it's clear the fear is consuming. While social-media might be easy to shed, the mindset it puts you in is much more difficult to lose.
"Del Rio" is a bonus-track that apparently is only available as a B-Side to "Digital Witness" in Europe and on the Japanese version of St. Vincent.
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