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St. Vincent (musician)

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St. Vincent
St. Vincent performing in Portland, Oregon on February 6, 2010
St. Vincent performing in Portland, Oregon on February 6, 2010
Background information
Birth nameAnnie Clark
Born (1982-09-28) September 28, 1982 (age 41)
Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States
GenresIndie pop, baroque pop, art rock, downtempo[1][2]
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist
Instrument(s)Vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards
Years active2003–present
LabelsBeggars Banquet, 4AD
Websiteilovestvincent.com

Annie Erin Clark (born September 28, 1982),[3] better known by her stage name St. Vincent, is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She began her music career as a member of The Polyphonic Spree and was also part of Sufjan Stevens' touring band before forming her own band in 2006. Clark currently resides in Manhattan.[4]

Her debut album, Marry Me (2007) was released to critical acclaim, and was followed by the more commercially-successful Actor (2009). Her third album, Strange Mercy, was released on September 13, 2011.

Clark has opened shows for such acts as Television, Arcade Fire, Andrew Bird, Jolie Holland, John Vanderslice, Xiu Xiu, Death Cab for Cutie, Cristina Donà and Grizzly Bear. She worked with Bon Iver on the song "Roslyn", which appeared on the film soundtrack of The Twilight Saga: New Moon. She also worked with Kid Cudi on the song "MANIAC" for his album Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager along with rapper Cage.

Early life

Annie Clark was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma.[5][6] She began playing the guitar at the age of 12 and, as a teenager, worked as the tour manager for her uncle's band Tuck & Patti.[7] She grew up in Dallas, Texas, and attended Lake Highlands High School, graduating in 2001.[8]

Following this, she went on to attend Berklee College of Music, before dropping out three years later.[9] In retrospect, Clark said, "I think that with music school and art school, or school in any form, there has to be some system of grading and measurement. The things they can teach you are quantifiable. While all that is good and has its place, at some point you have to learn all you can and then forget everything that you learned in order to actually start making music."[10] In 2003, during her time at Berklee, she released an EP with fellow students, entitled Ratsliveonnoevilstar.[11] Shortly after leaving Berklee, Clark returned home to Texas where she joined The Polyphonic Spree just before their embarking on a European tour.[12] In 2004 she joined Glenn Branca's 100 guitar orchestra for the Queens performance.[13]

Clark left The Polyphonic Spree and joined Sufjan Stevens' touring band in 2006, bringing with her a tour EP entitled Paris Is Burning. It contains three tracks, including a cover version of Jackson Browne's "These Days".

Career

St. Vincent and Marry Me (2007)

In 2006, Clark began recording a studio album, under the stage name St. Vincent. Her stage name is a reference to Saint Vincent's Catholic Medical Center where the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas died in 1953. “It’s the place where poetry comes to die,” she has said. “That’s me.”[7] However, in another interview she claimed that it was to honor her grandmother, whose middle name was also St. Vincent.

Clark released her debut album, Marry Me on July 10, 2007 on Beggars Banquet Records. Named after a line from the television show Arrested Development,[14] the album features appearances from drummer Brian Teasley (Man or Astro-man?, The Polyphonic Spree), Mike Garson (David Bowie's longtime pianist), and horn player Louis Schwadron (The Polyphonic Spree).

The album was well-received by critics, with Clark being compared to the likes of Kate Bush and David Bowie.[15] Clark was lauded for the album's musical arrangements as well as themes and style; in their review of the album, The AV Club noted: "There's a point where too much happiness turns into madness, and St. Vincent's multi-instrumentalist Annie Clark knows this place well".[16] Pitchfork said "at every turn Marry Me takes the more challenging route of twisting already twisted structures and unusual instrumentation to make them sound perfectly natural and, most importantly, easy to listen to as she overdubs her thrillingly sui generis vision into vibrant life."[15]

The songs featured on Marry Me were largely written when Clark was eighteen and nineteen years old, and, according to Clark, "represented a more idealized version of what life was or what love was or anything in the eyes of someone who hadn't really experienced anything."[10] The album featured its one single, "Paris Is Burning", as well as a music video for "Jesus Saves, I Spend".

In 2008, Clark was nominated for three PLUG Independent Music Awards: New Artist of the Year, Female Artist of the Year, and Music Video of the Year. On March 6, 2008, she won the PLUG Female Artist of the Year award.[17]

Actor (2009)

St. Vincent performing in San Diego on May 30, 2009

In 2008, after returning to New York from a lengthy tour, Clark began working on her second album. Her inspiration reportedly came from several films, including Disney movies: "Well, the truth is that I had come back from a pretty long — you know, about a year-and-a-half of touring, and so my brain was sort of all circuit boards that were a little bit fried", Clark said. "So I started watching films as sort of a way to get back into being human. And then it started to just really inform the entire record."[18]

Clark, who didn't have a studio at the time, began writing the album in her apartment on her computer using GarageBand and MIDI, because she had been getting noise complaints from neighbors.[4] The songs were largely inspired by scenes from various children's films; Clark has stated that she would imagine a soundtrack for certain scenes from films when constructing the music and lyrics,[4] including scenes from Snow White (1937) and The Wizard of Oz (1939).

The second album, entitled Actor, was released by 4AD Records on May 5, 2009.[19] The album was also well-received and gained more commercial attention than its predecessor.[10] Spin gave the album eight out of ten stars, noting its "[juxtaposition of] the cruel and the kind, and here, the baroque arrangements are even more complex and her voice even prettier, with both only underlining the dark currents running through her songs".[20] Entertainment Weekly said the album "plays up the contrasts, [with Clark] letting her church-choir voice linger on lyrics that hint darkly at themes of violence, sex, and general chaos", and branded the album "a uniquely potent cocktail of sounds and moods."[21]

Actor charted well for an independent release, peaking at #9 on Billboard's Independent Albums Chart, and #5 on the Tastemaker Albums Chart.[22] It peaked at #90 on the Billboard 200. Although the album spawned no singles (except in the UK where "Actor Out Of Work" was issued as a 7" vinyl single), music videos for "Marrow" and "Actor Out of Work" were released, and aired on several music channels. A promotional music video for Laughing With a Mouth of Blood, featuing Portlandia's Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein (then of ThunderAnt), was also filmed.

Strange Mercy (2011)

On January 12, 2011—according to her Twitter account— Clark stated that she was working on her third album, Strange Mercy, a follow up to Actor.[23] In early March, producer John Congleton, who also worked with Clark on Actor, commented that he and Clark were nearly a third of the way through recording the new release.[24] On July 4, Clark stated via Twitter that if enough followers tweeted the hashtag "#strangemercy", she would release a track from the album. On July 22, after the threshold was met, she released "Surgeon" for download and streaming on her official website.[25]

In August 2011, Clark was interviewed and featured on the cover of SPIN magazine.[26] On August 24, 2011, a music video was released for the song "Cruel", and on September 5, the entire album was put up for streaming on NPR Music.[27] The album was released on September 13, 2011.[28]

Strange Mercy received widespread acclaim from music critics. The album achieved an overall rating of 8.1/10 at[29] AnyDecentMusic? based on 36 reviews. The album was St. Vincent's highest-charting album yet, peaking at #19 on the US Billboard 200.[30] Regarding the album Annie Clark has stated "I don't think it's the best record I'll ever make, but I think it's a good record."[31] Clark began touring the US and Europe in support of the record in the fall of 2011, and is continuing a worldwide tour throughout 2012.

In 2012, Clark featured on Andrew Bird's album Break It Yourself singing on "Lusitania".

Musical style

Clark's music has been noted for its wide array of instruments and arrangements, as well as its polysemous lyrics, which have been described as teetering between "happiness and madness".[16] In response to this, Clark has said, "I like when things come out of nowhere and blindside you a little bit. I think any person who gets panic attacks or has an anxiety disorder can understand how things can all of a sudden turn very quickly. I think I'm sublimating that into the music."[10]

In addition to guitar, Clark also plays bass, piano, and organ, and her music also often features violins, cellos, flutes, trumpets, clarinets, and other instruments.[32] Her unorthodox musical style has been characterized by critics as a mixture of chamber rock, pop, indie rock, and cabaret jazz.[4]

As of late 2011, her pedal board includes the following: Korg PitchBlack, DBA Interstellar Overdriver Supreme, ZVex Mastotron Fuzz, Eventide Pitchfactor, Eventide Space, BOSS PS-5 Super Shifter, Moog EP-2 Expression Pedal. All her pedals are controlled by a MasterMind MIDI Foot Controller. She usually plays with a 60s Harmony H-15V Bobkat guitar.

St. Vincent performing at The Button Factory, Dublin in November 2011

Discography

Albums

Singles

  • "Paris Is Burning" (2007) – CD (not released on label)
  • "Jesus Saves, I Spend", b/w "These Days" (2007) – CD, 7" single
  • "Now, Now", b/w "All My Stars Aligned" (2007) – CD, 7" single
  • "Actor Out of Work", b/w "Bicycle" (2009) – 7" single
  • "Marrow", b/w "Oh My God" (2009) - Digital, promo CD single
  • "Surgeon" (2011) - Promo digital single
  • "Cruel" (2011) - Promo digital / CD single
  • "Cheerleader", b/w "Cheerleader (acoustic)" (2012) - iTunes single
  • "Krokodil, b/w "Grot" (2012) - red vinyl 7" single for Record Store Day

References

  1. ^ "Artist: St. Vincent". Rock Feedback. 12 September 2011. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
  2. ^ Lukowsi, Andrzej (24 July 2009). "Blank stares and black holes: DiS meets St. Vincent". Drowned In Sound. Retrieved 15 October 2011.
  3. ^ "Annie Clark's Blogger profile". Retrieved 2008-02-24.
  4. ^ a b c d "St. Vincent and Her Mutant Sounds: An interview with Annie Clark". Retrieved 2009-11-19.
  5. ^ "Treble : Album Review : St. Vincent – Marry Me". Treblezine.com. Retrieved 2011-07-06.
  6. ^ "BBC profile". Retrieved 2009-07-07.
  7. ^ a b Ryzik, Melena (May 7, 2009). "NY Times feature, May 6, 2009". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-06-16.
  8. ^ "Dallas Observer feature, July 5, 2007". Retrieved 2009-06-16.
  9. ^ "LA Times feature, May 27, 2009". Los Angeles Times. May 27, 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-16.
  10. ^ a b c d Murphy, Tom (12 February 2010). "Q&A With Annie Clark of St. Vincent". Denver Westword. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
  11. ^ "Early St. Vincent EP at Who Killed the Mixtape?". Retrieved 2008-02-24.
  12. ^ Ryzik, Melena (May 7, 2009). "NY Times feature, May 6, 2009". The New York Times. Retrieved 2009-05-07.
  13. ^ Interview: Annie Clark (of St. Vincent) – News – Evri. Evri.com:80. Retrieved on 2011-11-30.
  14. ^ "Pitchfork Guestlist Feature".
  15. ^ a b Klein, Joshua (27 July 2007). "Marry Me review". Pitchfork.
  16. ^ a b O'Neal, Sean (10 July 2007). "Marry Me". AV Club.
  17. ^ "2006 PLUG Independent Music Awards nominees". Retrieved 2008-02-24.
  18. ^ St. Vincent (2009). "All Things Considered: Annie Clark, shredding to The Wizard of Oz" (Interview). {{cite interview}}: Unknown parameter |program= ignored (help)
  19. ^ "St. Vincent profile at 4AD". Retrieved 2008-05-07.
  20. ^ Suarez, Jessica (2009). "Actor Review". Spin. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
  21. ^ Vozick-Levinson, Simon (6 May 2009). "Actor". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 3 February 2011.
  22. ^ "St. Vincent Album & Song Chart History". Billboard.
  23. ^ "Twitter / st vincent: Did I mention I'm working". Twitter.com. Retrieved 2011-07-06.
  24. ^ Hopkins, Daniel (2011-03-02). "Between Production Work With St. Vincent and David Byrne, Paper Chase Mastermind John Congleton Launches New Band Nighty Night – Dallas Music – DC9 At Night". Blogs.dallasobserver.com. Retrieved 2011-07-06.
  25. ^ Maples, Jillian (9 September 2011). "St. Vincent goes Twitter Happy". Billboard. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
  26. ^ Klausner, Julie (14 August 2011). "Style Issue: St. Vincent". SPIN. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
  27. ^ Katzif, Michael (4 September 2011). "First Listen: St. Vincent's Strange Mercy". NPR. Retrieved 10 September 2011.
  28. ^ "St. Vincent Strange Mercy Details". Stereogum. 2011-06-02. Retrieved 2011-07-06.
  29. ^ "Reviews of Strange Mercy collated by AnyDecentMusic?". Retrieved 2011-10-12.
  30. ^ Strange Mercy – St. Vincent. Billboard.com. Retrieved 22 September 2011
  31. ^ Strange Mercy – St. Vincent. Exclaim.ca. Retrieved 24 November 2011
  32. ^ Marry Me (2007). Beggers Banquet (liner notes)

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