st. vincent - Actor

Released: May 5, 2009

-

I don’t remember dates well, but I know that this album came out on May 5^th.  That’s because after discovering 2007’s Marry Me, I’ve kept a finger on the st. vincent pulse.  When the announcement came out that Annie Clark (the driving force behind the band) would be putting out her sophomore album in 2009, I all but dreamt and slept the words “May fifth.”

Finally the day came and I got the album.  I remember hurrying down the hall of my dorm, knocking on a friend’s door.  “I’ve got the new st. vincent,” I told him, and a minute later we were perched in front of my laptop, hitting the play button.

A few minutes into the opening track, The Strangers, Clark’s trademark, apocalyptic guitar grinds broke through an otherwise-mellow track, and all we could do was nod at each other.

Annie Clark is probably insane, or at least thinking in a way that if I ever met her, we’d have nothing to talk about.  The way she sets up her songs, balancing an airy voice, choral background vocals, and abrasive, ugly thrashings, is more than I can ever hope to get my head around.  Her lyrics are perfection; her musicianship is off-beat but spot-on for what it is; she owns the music.  Listening to any of st. vincent’s catalogue, it becomes glaringly apparent that each of the songs was put together by the same person and that they’ll never be confused with anyone else’s work.

As a follow-up to Marry Me, it suits itself well.  It’s a lot of the same, sure, but it worked the first time around and I for one have never had a problem with musicians staying where they’re at if it’s a place I enjoy.  But there’s also a lot of. . .dare I say growth?  Again, as a musician I don’t know when someone has really improved, but Actor feels like it gives more consideration to the things surrounding Clark’s voice and instrumentation.

Through La Blogotheque, I found a clip of Clark playing a short set with Andrew Bird, improvising on his violin, earlier this year.  During Black Rainbow, she makes it clear that at the end of the song he just needed to keep going up, up, up – and good lord was she not kidding (for what it’s worth, they’re both clearly trying hard to keep a straight faces).  The last minute-plus of the album version of the track is thundering drums surrounding eight notes on a violin that climb almost impossibly high.  On one hand, it’s unnerving – when might she stop? – but on the other, it’s beautiful and effective – do we want it to stop?

She does a lot of things like that.  I had a chance to see her play live this year (my second time), and her solos went on so long that the audience got plain uncomfortable at points.  At the same time, the way she presented the album was completely different from. . .well, the album.  She played most of the disc, but no song was sung the same way we were used to hearing it.  She took the upbeat and made it into a funeral march, turned her most melancholy verses and made them sound like small stampedes.  That’s another draw to the album – Annie Clark can do so many things with a single release.

Give a listen to one of the singles from the album, Marrow.  Around the 2:30 mark, I don’t even know what instruments she’s using, but I like the way it fits together.  Within a few tracks, it’s not hard to believe that she spent a fair amount of time playing with The Polyphonic Spree, and I’m glad to see that she’s gotten to break out on her own.

I know I’m attracted to music that really has a realm of its own, and that’s what brings st. vincent so close to the top spot on my 2009 list – it’s why this album was my number 5 a few days ago and has kept moving its way up with each listen.  I also know that this disc isn’t for everyone, but while we’re talking about my favorites, let’s talk about st. vincent.

Clark sings on track six, “I can’t see the future/but I know it’s got big plans for me.”

Yes, Annie.  It sure does.

Links:  Official Site • MySpace • Facebook • Last.fm