Lister

By Cathrine Rodalgaard

St. Vincent is no saint. Behind the graceful exterior and divine moniker is the 26-year-old American multi-instrumentalist and singer Annie Clark who is not afraid to mix neither genres nor inspirations and wringing both the beautiful and the ugly out of music in her richly orchestrated indie pop.

Late at night

Two years ago, when Annie Clark released her solo debut Marry Me, the album consisted of a mix of old and new demo tracks that she – in the course of 10 years – had written pieces for and recorded late at night in her bedroom.

Since her teens, she has sung and played in a chaotic confusion of various smaller bands, where she – in terms of genre – has moved within everything from hard-hitting punk to soft pop. But it was as a guitarist in the musical grand collective The Polyphonic Spree that she really found her feet musically.

Since then, she has performed solo under the moniker St. Vincent as supporting act for and member of Sufjan Steven’s tour band. Furthermore, she has supported bands such as Xiu Xiu and Television who also count themselves among her fans.

Filmic music

Annie Clark masters creating quirky compositions in which her violent as well as soft instrumentation melts together with her sharp lyrics that overflow with pitch-black humour and often tell both bizarre and beautiful stories about imaginary persons in skew sceneries.

“I really love Woody Allen. I got almost obsessed with ‘Stardust Memories’. It’s my favourite one, just because the humour is so..  well absurd,” Annie Clark says.

“I use humour as well. I think it’s a coping mechanism you develop when you are sensitive. I think life is funny and absurd and wonderful. You could cry all day or you could laugh and make a joke. I’d rather look at the black sides of life with a bit of humour.”

For her musical sceneries she frequently borrows pieces from all musical genres and artistic styles. And whereas she in the title of her debut album quoted an American TV show, she has on her latest and second solo album Actor been inspired by Disney films, Jean-Luc Godard and Woody Allen and written each song as a small soundtrack to a scene or mood in a film.

Perhaps this is why her new songs are theatrical sound sceneries which contain both electronic rustling, winds and juddering guitars with her hypnotic, beautiful voice balancing elegantly on top.