Answering back

As a music journalist (of sorts) who does the occasional interview, it can be difficult to find interesting questions and new angles. But as a musician, it must be infinitely more tedious to be asked the same things over and over again in the build-up to, and in the wake of, an album's release. St Vincent's decision to create an "interview kit" - written by none other than Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney (and now, more famously, Portlandia) - is a characteristically funny and sharp comment on the drudgery of doing press and the dumbness of some interviewers' questions.

The kit may well come in handy given that she has a new album, MASSEDUCTION, out on 13th October. The LP - which is apparently "all about sex and drugs and sadness" - has been preceded by 'Los Ageless', which unfortunately isn't as good as its name, but the earlier single 'New York', her take on the conventional romantic ballad (i.e. one that features the word "motherfucker" several times), is much better. I found myself admiring rather than loving her much-lauded 2014 self-titled album - perhaps this will be the one that finally wins me over completely.