Recently, I was serendipitously introduced to an entrancing recording artist known as St. Vincent. What do I know about St. Vincent? Not much at all, only what I have read and heard on the hyperlinked community of the internet. To that end, I am simply providing some of the details I have read, as well as my initial reaction to this experience.

Let's begin by pulling the robe off the monk, St. Vincent is Annie Clark. Annie is a singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and, at 23, she is also a seasoned touring guitarist by way of The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens. The four songs I have heard thus far have been an experience in sonic poetry. The frequency at which her musical imagery travels is well suited to take a listener to another plane. Alone with her guitar she accomplishes more than many do with an ensemble of musicians. The music is sometimes ethereal, sometimes impressively technical but all the time engaging and evocative.

The raw expression of her vocals only enhances the atmospheric landscape she produces with her instrumental tones and the lyrics seem perfectly suited for the timbre of her quizzical, sultry voice. Her vocals have a familiar yet distinctive quality. If I may use a cliché method of comparison, Annie Clark is like Bjork meets Shirley Manson with a quick little handshake from Karin Bergquist, often possessing the sound of John Lennon if he were female. She is a breath of fresh air in this farm grown, manufactured diva wannabe crazed world.

The songs display an interesting and wide spectrum of amalgams. The breaks that occur in the song "Your Lips Are Red" feel more like freeform jazz, possessing horn stabs, odd harmonic dissonances, and syncopations. Instead of the slow building song erupting into an explosion of the utter frenetic chaos of free form jazz it suddenly begins to float, like the moment after take off where you no longer feel the plane propelling itself forward at 460 mph. "Marry Me" feels like a "Dear John" letter in reverse and moves to the other end of the spectrum, changing instrumentation to a soft piano and hand clap interspersed with string treatments.

If you like entrancing and hypnotic music that subtly forces you to engage yourself in thought, give St Vincent a listen. Don't take my recommendation just think of this as a moment of serendipity unless, of course, you came looking for something about St. Vincent.

(Marry Me is St. Vincent's debut recording on the Beggar's Banquet label, released July 2007)

Website: ilovestvincent.com

Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/stvincent

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written by sunny , February 22, 2008

st.vincent? more like bailey seton

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written by Thom , July 26, 2007

You know, that is an interesting question, especially when thinking about the dynamics of indie music subgroups. I am sure there is a great deal of factors to consider when choosing a record label, if and when an artist may be extended an offer. There are many, many artists who do not do everything based on their connections with other labels. A good example is U2. They created Mother Records for the artists they were “discovering” and yet, they owned a large portion of Island Records, which is the label they are on. I suppose it is largely dependent upon the artists needs and intended direction placed in the light of what offers are being made available to them.

Intended direction is also an interesting way to look at the “quirkiness” of any artist. When I listen to bands with a quirky nature like St. Vincent, Half-Handed Cloud, Sufjan Stevens, They Might Be Giants, Talking Heads, U2 (during the Macphisto period), I have to say that I think their intention is more than not to take themselves too seriously. I think this quirkiness is often well thought out possessing a desire to make a statement while not taking oneself too seriously. This is why I really liked the email contact as well; little things like that tend to introduce the personality behind the artist much more naturally.

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written by Matt Browning , July 21, 2007

Thom,
Any idea why Annie/St. Vincent is on the Beggars Banquet label when she obviously has connections to Asthmatic Kitty records (it's the first friend on her myspace page)?

Half-Handed Cloud is another band (even stranger of a sound than St. Vincent) that is basically just one person who is a part of Sufjan's touring band part time. It's neat to see the connections that exist in the indie music world.

I also love the quirkiness of so many of "these sorts" of artists (naming the website ilovestvincent.com and having the contact email be This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ). Especially in the face of so many artists who maybe take their craft and themselves too seriously.

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