Marry Me

Miss Annie Clark, who performs as St. Vincent, stole the show when she opened up for Midlake a little over a year ago at the Bowery. Admittedly, I’m not one that’s often overwhelmed or impressed these days by musicians playing solo with a guitar. When I found out that someone would be doing exactly that before Midlake went on, my first thought was regret (this is going to be lame) followed immediately by pity (I feel sorry for her, because I’m an asshole, and because I think most singer-songwriters are terrible and it was unfortunate that this person was not going to be any good; how embarrassing for her). Instead, I was mesmerized by Miss Clark’s sheer musical virtuosity: guitar chops that display both technical excellence and emotional subtlety; complex songwriting that felt both spontaneous and considered, a difficult trick indeed; and an outright pretty, confident voice and stage presence that carried the weight of everything else she was doing. Damn. You don’t come across one of her very often. I was consequently eager in my anticipation to see where she’d go from there.

Her debut album didn’t disappoint; Marry Me is as ambitious as St. Vincent is talented, and often to excellent results. The stripped down songs that wooed me so effectively the first time I saw her are fleshed out in unexpected and thoughtful ways. The lyrics reveal themselves to be clever, sincere and occasionally funny over repeated listens, and she gets extra bonus points for naming her album after an Arrested Development joke. Marry Me was deservedly one of my favorite albums of 2007.

I was both optimistic and curious to see how Marry Me would play live when Miss Clark had a full band behind her. She brought with her a violin player, a drummer, and a multi-instrumentalist who mostly played keyboard and bass. Between the band and the occasional pre-recorded loop, the album came through pretty true to the recordings. The show had good energy, but again it was Miss Clark that owned the night, charming with both her superb musical delivery and disarming inter-song banter. With so much going for her, it is difficult to see St. Vincent becoming anything short of great in the not too distant future; so much of what makes a performer great is already there, quite naturally. Her only challenge is to figure out what to do with all that talent.

Labels: Concert Reviews, St Vincent