“That’s not relevant.”
Annie Clark—St. Vincent—slyly dismisses a question about her time with the Polyphonic Spree, preferring to talk instead about St. Vincent and her current album, Strange Mercy.
Born in ’82, Clark was raised in Texas. Prior to her solo career as St. Vincent, Clark was a member of the Dallas-based symphonic pop rock band, Polyphonic Spree, and later part of Sufjan Stevens’ touring band. “Polyphonic Spree was like a crazy-ass trip, rock circus,” she says. Playing in other people’s bands, you learn when to play and when not to play, and when to shut up and when to let things breath for themselves.”
In 2007, she released her first solo album, Marry Me, under the name St. Vincent. “A lot of that album was written in my childhood bedroom on a laptop, recording myself,” Clark says. Though recorded on computer, her instrumentation was largely conventional, relying on the piano, strings and background hand claps. Her vocals and melodies are upbeat, while the lyrics are suggestively somber. In the title track, she sings, “Marry me John, I’ll be so good to you.” That lyric is later countered by, “You won’t realize I’m gone.” This album could easily be the soundtrack to a European romance film, as it’s her most direct and lacks what has become her signature, distorting sounds and emotions while synching quirky melodies with intimidating guitar riffs
In 2009, she released her second record, Actor, where the current of emotions often rises and falls with severe guitar notes. On the album, her preference towards darker sounds and lyrics became more evident, though the album’s starting place wouldn’t point that direction. “Actor came from me watching a lot of Disney movies and trying to rescore my favorite scenes,” says Clark.
On this album, she introduces a more orchestral sound that creates another layer of intensity next to her electric guitar, resulting in a modern-day Fantasia soundtrack. For example, to best describe the grit of the album, take the song “Marrow.” It’s similar to Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer,” but she replaces Trent Reznor’s creepy electronic textures with flutes and woodwinds while lyrically hinting at violence, sex and vulgarity.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9prpAv6kvo[/youtube]
Strange Mercy explores the dark abysses of the human existence, which she happily transmits into her lyrics. Clark made the album after spending an entire month alone in Seattle without talking to people and strictly focusing on her creative duties. Computers have helped her play patterns and melodies other than those she naturally gravitates to in the past, but she wrote Strange Mercy on her guitar anyway. “I was detoxing from technology,” she says.
Still, the album sounds like St. Vincent—melodically attractive, musically expansive if not as expansive as on previous albums, and bubbly on the surface with a strong, dark undercurrent. How does she know when a song’s done? She just does. “When I know a song is complete, it just feels right.”
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Itt0rALeHE8[/youtube]
St. Vincent performs tonight at Tipitina’s with Cate LeBon opening. Doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets are on sale now.
