St. Vincent revives the 1960s/1970s psychedelic aesthetic in the new video for her latest single, “The Melting of the Sun.” The song was released last week in advance of her upcoming album Daddy’s Home, which is due on May 14 via Loma Vista Records.

It’s mostly an animated video, but St. Vincent also appears in it while playing the part of the sun in Teletubbies fashion as well as floating in a bubble with her Daddy’s Home wig and outfit on. The animation closely follows the song’s lyrics and caricatures the legendary women that St. Vincent mentions, including Joni Mitchell, Tori Amos, Marilyn Monroe and Nina Simone. 

In “The Melting of the Sun,” St. Vincent alludes to the struggles of these icons and asks herself who she is trying to be. Psychedelic organ chords and touches of folk guitar propel the song underneath until the soulful backing vocalists take over with a supportive outro, “Girl, the world’s spinning ’round/Spinning down and out of time/Girl, you can’t give in now/When you’re down, down and out.”

The track follows the new album’s lead single “Pay Your Way in Pain,” which drew inspiration from some different aspects of the 1970s like funk music and the belief that systems of power were failing. St. Vincent was accompanied on both tracks by Justin Meldal-Johnsen on bass, Jason Falkner on guitar, Rachel Eckroth on keys, Mark Guiliana on drums and Nayanna Holley, Sy Smith and Neka Hamilton on backing vocals. The whole album was co-produced by St. Vincent and Jack Antonoff.

Daddy’s Home and its ‘70s throwbacks were inspired by St. Vincent’s father, who was recently released from prison in 2019. She has mentioned that he was in jail for a white-collar crime. Vinyl, CD and cassette versions of the album are available for pre-order on St. Vincent’s site, along with plenty of merch options.

Her last official album was 2017’s Masseduction, which made it onto mxdwn’s top albums list for that year. In 2018, she shared a stripped-down piano version of it called MassEducation. Daddy’s Home will be St. Vincent’s seventh studio album since she began using the stage name in 2006.

Photo credit: Owen Ela