Masseduction, St. Vincent's fifth album, arrived on Monday (October 16) and is described by Pitchfork as less a pop album than a deeply, admittedly personal communique with a pop veneer.

According to the review, the songs tear into the feeling of leaving and of having been left alone. Annie Clark is often called “the female Bowie,” and the record is compared to the moment Bowie exploded his own craft into immediate hooks.

The review notes that the guitars become background squall, giving way to bigger arrangements and choruses that prioritise impact. It is a record of rupture, not continuity.