Clark described
St. Vincent as "a party record you could play at a funeral." The opening track, "Rattlesnake", is about an experience Clark had while walking in the desert, which she described as a "commune with nature". However, the opening line, "I followed the power lines back from the road", suggests that Clark is separating herself from a dependency on artificial or digital power. Other songs have more personal connections. "I Prefer Your Love", the sixth track, is about Clark's mother, who was briefly ill. The sentence from which the title is drawn, "He thinks of severed, crossed fingers found perfectly survived in the wreckage of a local plane crash last year", is used by Clark to convey the human heart's capacity for hope, even when hope seems futile. Of the song, Clark said, "That one's all me" in an interview with
Studio 360. Later, in an interview with
Pitchfork, she added, "I sang that in one fucking take, cried my eyes out, and the song was done". Clark described
St. Vincent as "more confident. I'm extending a hand; I want to connect with people.
Strange Mercy, which is a record I'm proud of, [was] definitely a very accurate record of my life at a certain time, but it was more about self-laceration, all the sort of internal struggle.
St. Vincent is very extroverted." == Critical reception ==