St. Vincent

I wanted to write about a very original artist on the current scene, St. Vincent.

Her given name is Annie Clark. A little background check reveals that for three years, she went to the prestigious Berklee College Of Music in Boston, MA before dropping out. She was a former member of a cool band called The Polyphonic Spree, an elaboration of this unique band requires a separate entry. She also was part of Sufjan Stevens' touring band. Now that we have that out of the way, we can talk about her solo work.

Her first release, Marry Me, came out in 2007 on Beggars Banquet. You can tell immediately that she has a non-traditional voice and instrumentation in her music. Starting off with the first tune, diversity abounds. The song is "Now, Now" and it starts out with her explaining to someone about what she is not. Potentially to an abusive significant other. There are hints of orchestration, several backing vocalists layered as they sing the chorus of the title and other key lines. The end of the song builds to a crescendo with heavy guitar work and ends with a crash. Very nice introduction to her solo career!

She has a few songs on her first album that for some might seem irreverent to certain beliefs. In "Jesus Saves, I Spend" she makes references to Jesus and compares her differing role in life with his. The context is a little disjointed as is the constant infusion of different non-traditional pop instruments and sounds. She has a beautiful love song called "All My Stars Aligned" that showcases a traditional vocal style that is truly lovely. She sings about a special someone that she is setting her sights on and how she is hoping for a future with them.

On her second album, released earlier this year called Actor, she continues to expand on her ability to put forth sounds and noises not often heard in today's pop scene, one of her most endearing qualities. The first song to strike me on this release was "Save Me From What I Want". Again, her vocal layering on the chorus is intriguing. The marching beat of the snare drum gives the song a drone feel, much like the lyrics bemoaning the drab quality of the relationship she's in. The song "Actor Out Of Work" is very upbeat and catchy. I could see this hitting the clubs with a remixed version. It revolves around the comparison of her significant other's personal qualities to that of an actor. Check out the cool video below (with lots of crying).



The last song to discuss is "Just The Same But Brand New". Again, it highlights her abilities to successfully emit emotionally in a slower song. It has elements of dreampop with her continued non-traditional use of percussion.

St. Vincent is great for so many reasons. She wrote all but one song on both of her releases. The lyrics are intelligent and most songs deal with metafor in some way or another. Some songs make no sense at all but that's part of her appeal. She constantly changes the mood and tone in each song. Her unique insertion of electronic and traditional horns and percussion is refreshing. She has her own branded style after two releases that keeps you wanting to come back for more. I find myself drawn to her latest release for it's ability to show you something that you missed the first five times you heard it.

Like me, if quirky lyrics, delivery and instrumentation are your thing, you cannot go wrong with either one of these releases. Look for St. Vincent to continue to make a lasting impression on the music scene. I am pretty confident that Actor will be gracing my year-end Top Ten list.

K