The tracks were arranged and demoed by Annie Clark in Austin, Texas and recorded at the Elmwood studio in Dallas.

[12][13] On February 5, Clark debuted "Prince Johnny" on the radio show KCRW: Morning Becomes Eclectic.

It featured the previously unreleased "Bad Believer"; "Del Rio", a B-side from the "Digital Witness" single and a bonus track on the Japanese edition of St. Vincent; "Digital Witness" (DARKSIDE Remix), previously released as a single; and "Pietà" and "Sparrow", originally released together on a limited edition 10" pink vinyl on November 28, 2014 for Record Store Day.

"[20] The opening "Rattlesnake" is about an experience Clark had when walking in the desert, which she described as a "commune with nature".

"I Prefer Your Love", the sixth track, is about Clark's mother, who was briefly ill.[21] The closing "Severed Crossed Fingers" takes inspiration from a line from one of American novelist Lorrie Moore's short stories.

[22] The sentence from which the title is taken – "He thinks of severed, crossed fingers found perfectly survived in the wreckage of a local plane crash last year",[23] – is used by Clark to demonstrate the human heart's ability to have hope, even when none is present.

[24] Later, in an interview with Pitchfork, Clark explained "I sang that in one fucking take, cried my eyes out, and the song was done".

[38] Writing for The Guardian, Alexis Petridis awarded the album a perfect five stars, calling it "an embarrassment of fantastic songs" and "a straightforward triumph".

[32] At Rolling Stone, Jon Dolan awarded the album four stars out of five, hailing it as "her tightest, tensest, best set of songs to date, with wry, twisty beats pushing her lovably ornery melodies toward grueling revelations" and noting that "the playful way these songs contort makes pain feel like a party.

"[36] Alex Denny of The Fly rated the album four-and-a-half stars out of five, describing it as "her most ebullient, ambitiously styled music to date".

[39] NME, The Guardian, musicOMH, Entertainment Weekly, and Slant Magazine named it the best album of 2014.