St. Vincent artist Annie Clark recently announced her new album, Daddy’s Home, painting it as inspired by “music made in New York from 1971-76.” As it turns out, the project nearly had an entirely different sound. During an appearance on RADIO.COM’s New Arrivals with Bryce Segall, Clark revealed she originally planned on making a “heavy record” inspired by Tool.

“The crazy thing about music is, you can plan and plan and think you’re gonna go one way, and then you start writing and the music just takes you wherever the music takes you,” she emphasized. “That was certainly the experience with this. I was dead set in my mind that after MASSEDUCTION, I was just gonna make this like, heavy record. Like just heavy the whole time — like, ‘Hey kids, you like Tool? Well, you’ll love the St. Vincent record,’ you know?”

Clark continued by remembering how she landed on the album’s final sound:

“I got sort of down the road with that, but I kept finding I didn’t have anything to say there. It didn’t feel like anything to go more angular and harder after MASSEDUCTION. But where it did feel free and fun and fresh and a lot of other ‘f’ words was just to be like, ‘Let me go back to the music I’ve listened to more than anything else: stuff made in New York in the ’70s from ’71-76.’ Post-flower child, pre-disco, pre-punk, and just sit in that space for a little bit.”

She later added, “For fans who may be selfishly hoping to hear something like that Tool record… we’ll get there, don’t worry.”

The Tool influence doesn’t come out of the left field. In August 2020, Clark shared old footage of herself covering the band’s Ænima cut, “Forty Six & 2”, during a pre-show warm-up for her MASSEDUCTION tour.

Daddy’s Home was composed in 2019 after her father was discharged from prison. He had been convicted to 12 years in jail in 2010 for his role in a $43 million stock-manipulation plot. The album will hit May 14th via Loma Vista Recordings.

Stream the full RADIO.COM interview below.