St. Vincent | ||
| Allmusic Biography : With her literate, emotionally intricate songwriting and inventive guitar playing, St. Vincents Annie Clark excels at subverting rock and pop conventions. A Berklee School of Music student inspired to learn the guitar because she loved grunge acts like Nirvana and Soundgarden, she introduced her genre-bending approach on 2007s Marry Me, which fused elements of indie, rock, electronic, and jazz in surprising ways. From there, her increasingly ambitious albums brought the scope of her music into clearer focus, and she achieved a rare balance of critical and commercial success as the years passed: Clark made her Billboard debut with 2009s Actor; became the first solo female artist to win the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album in 20 years with 2014s St. Vincent; and cracked the Billboard Top 10 with the anti-pop of 2017s Grammy-winning MASSEDUCTION. St. Vincent was born Annie Erin Clark on September 28, 1982 in Tulsa, Oklahoma and spent most of her childhood in Dallas, Texas. She began playing guitar at the age of 12, and picked up some valuable lessons on the life of a touring musician as a teenager when she joined her uncle Tuck Andress on the road with his popular jazz duo Tuck & Patti. After graduating from high school in 2001, she studied at the prestigious Berklee School of Music, and recorded a self-released, three-song EP with fellow students in 2003, Ratsliveonnoevilstar. In 2004, Clark left Berklee and joined the extra-large Baroque pop group the Polyphonic Spree as a guitarist and a singer; she toured with the band, and appeared on the sessions for their 2007 album The Fragile Army. In 2004, Clark briefly worked with another unusually large group, performing with Glenn Brancas 100 Guitar Orchestra for a recording of one of his avant-garde symphonies. In 2006, she left the Polyphonic Spree and joined the backing band of like-minded pop composer Sufjan Stevens. She recorded a three-song EP to sell at her shows with Stevens, on which she adopted the name St. Vincent (inspired by her grandmother as well as the New York hospital where poet Dylan Thomas breathed his last.) In 2007, St. Vincent stepped out on her own and signed a deal with Beggars Banquet, which released her first full-length album, Marry Me. It was well-received by critics, and in 2009, she moved to the celebrated British independent label 4AD for her second album. Teaming with producer John Congleton, St. Vincents sophomore effort, Actor, was a musical and lyrical step forward from her debut. Strong reviews, coupled with St. Vincents impressive live performances, helped it rise to number 90 on the Billboard Top 200 album charts. In addition to her busy touring schedule, she found time to make guest appearances on albums by the Mountain Goats and the New Pornographers. In 2011, she appeared at a special concert paying homage to the pioneering indie rock bands chronicled in Michael Azerrads book Our Band Could Be Your Life, where she performed a striking version of Big Blacks "Kerosene" that earned praise from group founder Steve Albini. Early in 2011, she reunited with producer Congleton, and the third St. Vincent album, Strange Mercy, was released in September 2011. The following year, she collaborated with Talking Heads musician David Byrne after the two met at Radio City Music Hall in New York City for AIDS/HIV charity Dark Was the Nights benefit concert in 2009. The initial plan was to play a one-off show together; however, after the pair began to trade ideas, the project snowballed into a full album. They incorporated horns into the sound and traded lyrics via email until Love This Giant was realized and released in 2012. St. Vincent spent much of that year and 2013 touring in support of the project, which was a critical and commercial success. Late in 2013, she began work on her fourth album, once again working with Congleton. St. Vincent, which boasted some of her most accessible songwriting and challenging sounds, appeared in early 2014. That April, Clark fronted a reunited Nirvana at the 29th Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, performing "Lithium" with the band. In February 2015, St. Vincent won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Album, making Clark the first solo female artist to win that award in 20 years. Later that year, she appeared on the Chemical Brothers album Born in the Echoes. In 2016, she contributed a cover of the Rolling Stones "Emotional Rescue" to the soundtrack of A Bigger Splash, directed a segment of XX, a horror anthology film featuring all-female directors, and designed a signature Music Man guitar for Ernie Ball. She became the first female ambassador for Record Store Day in 2017, and later that year released her fifth album, MASSEDUCTION, which she recorded with co-producer Jack Antonoff in New York and Los Angeles. The album also included such collaborators as Kamasi Washington, Jenny Lewis, Tuck & Patti, Doveman, and Cara Delevingne. The album debuted at number 10 on the Billboard 200 and earned widespread acclaim. In October 2018, St. Vincent released MassEducation, a reimagining of MassEducation songs featuring Clark on vocals and Thomas Bartlett on piano. In early 2019, the era was capped with a win at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards, where Clark not only performed a smoldering duet with Dua Lipa, but also took home Best Rock Song for "MassEducation." | ||
 | Album: 1 of 11 Title: Ratsliveonnoevilstar Released: 2003 Tracks: 5 Duration: 13:14 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Breathing (?) 2 Good Morning (?) 3 Count (05:31) 4 Bliss (03:53) 5 Circle (03:50) |
 | Album: 2 of 11 Title: Paris Is Burning Released: 2006-10 Tracks: 3 Duration: 11:34 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Paris Is Burning (04:20) 2 What Me Worry (03:55) 3 These Days (03:19) |
 | Album: 3 of 11 Title: Marry Me Released: 2007-07-10 Tracks: 11 Duration: 43:40 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Now, Now (04:27) 2 Jesus Saves, I Spend (03:56) 3 Your Lips Are Red (04:41) 4 Marry Me (04:41) 5 Paris Is Burning (04:20) 6 All My Stars Aligned (03:47) 7 The Apocalypse Song (03:47) 8 We Put a Pearl in the Ground (01:10) 9 Landmines (05:07) 10 Human Racing (03:48) 11 What Me Worry? (03:56) |
| Marry Me : Allmusic album Review : With experience playing with the Polyphonic Spree, Sufjan Stevens, and Glenn Branca, Annie Clark is more than qualified enough to start writing her own loosely ornate, lush pop songs. But while Clark, who chooses to use the name St. Vincent here, does incorporate the frilly strings and horns, background choirs, and various keyboards (most of which she plays) of her past employers in Marry Me, her solo debut, she also has an edge to her -- something that shows up in the distorted electric guitar solos of "Jesus Saves, I Spend" or "Now, Now," the drums in the ominous "The Apocalypse Song" or "Your Lips Are Red," the growing intensity of the vocals "Landmines," the funereal waltz of the fantastic "Paris Is Burning" ("I write to give the war is over/Send my cinders home to mother," Clark sings sadly over electronic drumbeats and acoustic guitars) -- that pushes her away from the overly sentimental and quaint. Not that Marry Me doesnt have its fair share of happy love songs ("All My Stars Aligned," "What Me Worry?"), but the album isnt seeped in that kind of joyfulness that sings blind and insincere. Its an mix of good and bad, of light and dark, of the woman who purposefully sets up the obstacles she must get through to find her lover ("Im crawling through landmines/I know cause I planted them," she sings disarmingly), of sweet self-deprecation ("Marry me, John, Ill be so good to you/You wont realize Im gone"), honest and quirky and totally enticing. Clark is young enough that shes still able to retain that sense of wonder about the world without seeming naïve, and old enough that she can say things like "My hands are red from sealing your red lips" and you believe her. Its an orchestral record for those who prefer the simplistic, a darker one for those who prefer theirs twee, love songs for the scorned and sad songs for the content, an engaging and alluring combination that makes Marry Me nearly irresistible, and one of the better indie pop albums thats come around for a long time. | ||
 | Album: 4 of 11 Title: Actor Released: 2009-05-04 Tracks: 11 Duration: 39:05 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 The Strangers (04:04) 2 Save Me From What I Want (03:35) 3 The Neighbors (03:30) 4 Actor Out of Work (02:15) 5 Black Rainbow (04:11) 6 The Sequel (01:53) 7 Laughing With a Mouth of Blood (03:01) 8 Marrow (03:24) 9 The Bed (03:43) 10 The Party (04:05) 11 Just the Same but Brand New (05:24) |
| Actor : Allmusic album Review : St. Vincents Annie Clark is a unique talent; shes as much a musician as she is a songwriter, and both her sounds and her words are delicately uncompromising. She blends rock, jazz, electronic, and classical touches together so seamlessly that it doesnt seem remarkable, and as lovely as her voice and music can be, shes too strange and too smart to be merely winsome. Marry Me was as bold as its title proposal suggested, uniting her sardonic, whip-smart viewpoint and jaunty music into songs with beacon-like clarity. Things are murkier, but no less fascinating, on Actor, Marry Mes darker and more ambitious follow-up. Musically and lyrically, the album often feels like a duel (and occasionally, a duet) between Clarks collected, literate side and her raging emotions. This is especially striking on Actors arrangements and instrumentation, which are even more expressive than they were on Marry Me. "The Strangers" opens the album with choral vocals, woodwinds, and typically charming/unsettling lyrics: "Desperate doesnt look good on you/Neither does your virtue." But before things get too dainty, massively distorted guitar and drums let out the fury thats been brewing in the song the entire time (later, "The Bed" offers an even sharper contrast between innocence and violence). "Marrow" is just as startling, switching from pretty to abrasive and back again with a swiftness thats surprising, even knowing how fond Clark is of turning her songs on their sides. She also loves couching uncomfortable moments in sweet sounds and vice versa, so its no surprise that Actors poppiest songs are its most disturbing. On the albums single, the forceful rocker "Actor Out of Work," she pulls in and levels a lover in just over two minutes, beginning with alluring "oohs" and then twisting the knife with putdowns like "Youre the curses through my teeth" -- the songs brisk dance between hot and cold is dazzling. Likewise, "Laughing with a Mouth of Blood" pairs the albums most gruesome song title with one of its most honeyed melodies. As brilliantly as Clark uses these contrasts, at times they threaten to overpower Actors songs, and the slightly more straightforward, Marry Me-like tracks such as "Save Me from What I Want" and "The Party" help balance the album with some breathing space. Similarly, while the albums elaborately layered sounds are engrossing, they tend to overshadow Clarks equally thoughtful lyrics at first -- although when she sings "Tomorrows some kind of stranger who Im not supposed to see" on "The Neighbors," its with more palpable emotion than anything she sang on Marry Me. "The Sequel" ends Actor on a fittingly uneasy, open-ended note, given all the complexities that came before it. This is some of St. Vincents most complicated music, but its fearless creativity rewards repeated listening, as Clark has few rivals when it comes to seducing ears and challenging minds at the same time. | ||
 | Album: 5 of 11 Title: Strange Mercy Released: 2011-09-09 Tracks: 11 Duration: 40:56 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Chloe in the Afternoon (02:55) 2 Cruel (03:34) 3 Cheerleader (03:28) 4 Surgeon (04:25) 5 Northern Lights (03:33) 6 Strange Mercy (04:28) 7 Neutered Fruit (04:13) 8 Champagne Year (03:28) 9 Dilettante (04:03) 10 Hysterical Strength (03:16) 11 Year of the Tiger (03:28) |
| Strange Mercy : Allmusic album Review : As clever and insightful as Annie Clarks first two St. Vincent albums were, she sometimes seemed slightly removed, and perhaps somewhat above, her songs’ subjects. However, she’s down and dirty with them on Strange Mercy, a collection of cracked veneers, eye-level confessions, and portraits of breaking points. It’s tempting to call this her most genuine album, but it’s probably more accurate to say it’s Clarks least academic-feeling set of songs. Contrast has always been a major part of her music, and Strange Mercys juxtapositions of harshness, softness, truth, lies, cruelty, and kindness feel especially pointed and potent. Most apparent is her use of opposing sounds; working with producer John Congleton, she focuses on luxurious strings and woodwinds that float above wobbly keyboards and ugly, distorted guitars that emphasize that these songs are under pressure. Clark finds plenty of range within this palette, though, busting out the talkbox on “Neutered Fruit”’s confrontational jazz-rock and a dance-pop beat on the subtly frantic “Hysterical Strength.” Less obvious are the emotional shifts many of these songs undergo, and how they blur the album’s contrasts. On the title track, Clark goes from vulnerable to protective to violent as she sings “I’ll tell you good news that I don’t believe/If it will help you sleep,” and on “Champagne Year,” she confesses and deceives at the same time. “Cruel” is Strange Mercys definitive track, putting inspired lyrics like “They could take or leave you/So they took you then they left you” atop strings and woodwinds straight from a vintage musical and a messed-up, fuzzed-out guitar solo. The song gets increasingly anxious as it closes, a pattern Clark repeats throughout the album; indeed, while these songs are some of her most fragmented, each song on Strange Mercy is tied to another. “Surgeon” shares a stuttering beat with opening track “Chloe in the Afternoon” and a similar melody to the declaration of independence that is “Cheerleader.” There’s so much going on musically on Strange Mercy that it could be easy to overlook Clarks growth as a songwriter, but “Year of the Tiger” boasts fully realized storytelling as well as a melody that would do Joni Mitchell or Carole King proud. Full of great lyrics and great playing, Strange Mercy is St. Vincents most reflective and most audacious album to date, and Clark remains as delicately uncompromising an artist as ever. | ||
 | Album: 6 of 11 Title: 4AD Session Released: 2012-04-10 Tracks: 4 Duration: 00:00 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Chloe in the Afternoon (?) 2 Surgeon (?) 3 Strange Mercy (?) 4 Year of the Tiger (?) |
 | Album: 7 of 11 Title: Love This Giant Released: 2012-09-10 Tracks: 12 Duration: 44:17 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Who (03:49) 2 Weekend in the Dust (03:07) 3 Dinner for Two (03:42) 4 Ice Age (03:13) 5 I Am an Ape (03:05) 6 The Forest Awakes (04:52) 7 I Should Watch TV (03:08) 8 Lazarus (03:13) 9 Optimist (03:49) 10 Lightning (04:15) 11 The One Who Broke Your Heart (03:46) 12 Outside of Space & Time (04:18) |
| Love This Giant : Allmusic album Review : Its not surprising that David Byrne and St. Vincents Annie Clark were drawn to work together. While theyre hardly sound-alikes, they are both keen but somewhat detached observers of the human condition who make music thats equally cerebral and passionate. However, it is somewhat surprising to learn that they created their collaboration Love This Giant largely online, meeting in the studio together with their team of musicians and producers a handful of times during the albums three-year gestation period, because theyre on such a harmonious wavelength throughout it. Though the albums brass-driven sound suggests Byrnes post-Talking Heads work more than St. Vincents guitar acrobatics (Clark fans may be disappointed that her playing is relegated to the sidelines here, albeit artfully so), it was actually Clarks idea to write these songs for a brass band when the project began as a handful of songs the duo was going to perform in a bookstore. At any rate, trying to dissect the collaborations inner workings is beside the point when the whole is this dazzlingly creative. While Love This Giant might not be a true concept album, Byrne and Clark explore the themes of individuality, community, love, and death with a thoroughness and cohesiveness that suggests otherwise, and together they push each other into creative spaces they might not have explored on their own. Clark takes a funky turn on "Weekend in the Dust," where her singing mirrors the angular brass stabs behind her as beats whirr and tick like wind-up toys, and delivers some of her most vulnerable vocals on the expansive "Optimist," one of the most unabashed love songs to New Yorks potential since "Empire State of Mind." However, its Byrne who sounds most revitalized by all the creativity flowing through Love This Giant, whether on the jaunty album opener "Who," the whimsical character study "I Am an Ape," or the celebratory "The One Who Broke Your Heart," which drafts the Dap-Kings and Antibalas to help him and Clark dance on their troubles. The album peaks with back-to-back highlights from the duo: "The Forest Awakes" lets Clark unleash her formidable fretwork over a relentlessly marching beat and strings and woodwinds, suggesting a particularly audacious St. Vincent track, while "I Should Watch TV" sets classic Byrne observations ("How are you?"/"Not like me") to alternately jarring and jubilant brass. For all the braininess and wildness on display, theres also a sweetness to the album, particularly on "Outside of Space and Time," which sings the praises of physics-defying devotion. Given all the things Byrne and Clark pack into Love This Giant, its a remarkably catchy and concise set of songs featuring some of the most vibrant work that either one of them has produced. | ||
 | Album: 8 of 11 Title: Brass Tactics Released: 2013-05-27 Tracks: 5 Duration: 18:14 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% AlbumCover | 1 Cissus (03:14) 2 I Should Watch TV (M. Stine remix) (03:32) 3 Lightning (Kent Rockafeller remix) (03:13) 4 Marrow (03:47) 5 Road to Nowhere (04:28) |
 | Album: 9 of 11 Title: St. Vincent Released: 2014-02-24 Tracks: 16 Duration: 57:45 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic Wikipedia AlbumCover | 1 Rattlesnake (03:34) 2 Birth in Reverse (03:15) 3 Prince Johnny (04:36) 4 Huey Newton (04:37) 5 Digital Witness (03:22) 6 I Prefer Your Love (03:36) 7 Regret (03:21) 8 Bring Me Your Loves (03:15) 9 Psychopath (03:32) 10 Every Tear Disappears (03:15) 11 Severed Crossed Fingers (03:42) 12 Bad Believer (03:00) 13 Pieta (03:28) 14 Sparrow (03:53) 15 Del Rio (02:54) 16 Digital Witness (DARKSIDE remix) (04:21) |
| St. Vincent : Allmusic album Review : Annie Clark began recording St. Vincent almost immediately after she finished touring in support of Love This Giant, her inspired collaboration with David Byrne. Its not hard to hear the influence that album had on these songs: Love This Giants literal and figurative brassiness gave Clarks witty yet thoughtful approach more sass without sacrificing any of her intelligence. Similarly, while St. Vincent is some of her most pop-oriented work, it doesnt dilute the essence of her music. If anything, her razor-sharp wit is even more potent when polished in a candy coating with just a hint of venom. This is especially true of the albums singles: on "Digital Witness," one of the songs with the closest kinship to her "Love This Giant" work, she juxtaposes pointed commentary ("If you cant see me/Whats the point of doing anything?") with Valley Girl "yeah"s in a trenchant expression of the 21st centurys constant oversharing and need for validation. This somewhat frantic undercurrent bubbles to the surface on "Birth in Reverse," one of Clarks most immediately winning singles since "Actor Out of Work," and one that makes retreat seem nearly as exciting as revolution. Here and throughout the album, Clark and longtime producer John Congleton use their signature, proudly artificial sound to highlight her direct storytelling, whether its the way "I Prefer Your Love"s trip-hoppy sheen lets the declaration "I prefer your love to Jesus" ring out more boldly or the way Clark sings "Im afraid of you because I cant be left behind" gives the lie to her brash guitar playing on "Regret." As on Strange Mercy, Clark explores strength and vulnerability in ever more masterful, and approachable, ways. Not every song may be as literally autobiographical as "Rattlesnake," which was inspired by a secluded walk in the desert in the altogether. Yet theres more than a kernel of emotional truth to "Prince Johnny," where Clarks character ends up even more exposed thanks to some songwriting sleight-of-hand. The hallucinatory, funky "Huey Newton" and the decaying power ballad "Severed Crossed Fingers" show off not just Clarks musical range, but just how eloquently she blends passion and precision. And, as her most satisfying, artful, and accessible album yet, St. Vincent earns its title. | ||
 | Album: 10 of 11 Title: MASSEDUCTION Released: 2017-10-13 Tracks: 14 Duration: 44:50 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify TrackSamples Allmusic AlbumCover | 1 Hang on Me (02:48) 2 Pills (04:40) 3 Masseduction (03:17) 4 Sugarboy (04:01) 5 Los Ageless (04:41) 6 Happy Birthday, Johnny (02:58) 7 Savior (03:26) 8 New York (02:34) 9 Fear the Future (02:31) 10 Young Lover (03:33) 11 Dancing With a Ghost (00:46) 12 Slow Disco (02:44) 13 Smoking Section (03:37) 14 政権腐敗 (Power Corrupts) (03:11) |
| MASSEDUCTION : Allmusic album Review : If Masseduction is any indication, the success St. Vincents Annie Clark had with her self-titled breakthrough album -- which included a Grammy for Best Alternative Album, playing with Nirvana at their induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and a long-running, electrifying tour -- almost led to a breakdown. Fortunately, for an artist as keenly observant as Clark, personal chaos counts as professional field research, and on her fifth album she weaponizes the trappings of her acclaim. Working with an in-demand producer (Bleachers Jack Antonoff, who has also shaped sounds for Lorde and Taylor Swift) and all-star collaborators including Kamasi Washington, Jenny Lewis, and Mike Elizondo, on Masseduction she creates a pop version of St. Vincent thats bigger and shinier -- but definitely not simpler. In its own way, its just as complex as her previous album, and as its sound gets more lurid and massive, its songs get more revealing and anxious. "Hang on Me," which begins the album by comparing a relationship to a plane crash, is the first of many songs to go down in flames. On the title track, Clark sounds increasingly unhinged as she repeats the albums mission statement -- "I cant turn off what turns me on" -- over gleaming synths, outlandish guitars, and barely human harmonies. Here and on the deceptively sleek "Sugarboy," where she describes herself as "a casualty hanging from the balcony," she crafts potent cocktails of desire and destruction. Clark also transcends the familiarity of Masseductions tropes just as skillfully as she subverts pop musics conventions. The perky irony of "Pills" ode to pharmaceuticals could be clichéd if its speedy verses werent followed by a narcotized coda featuring Washingtons woozily beautiful saxophone. Similarly, Clark finds new wrinkles on sexuality and boundaries on the Prince-ly "Savior" and injects new life into the tale of a partners OD on "Young Lover," hitting wailing high notes that are equally fantastical and desperate. These cracking veneers allow more glimpses of real feeling than ever before in St. Vincents music, most strikingly on "Happy Birthday, Johnny," a throwback to Marry Mes piano pop that finds a longtime friend calling Clark a sellout, and "New York," a farewell to a changing town and changing relationships. Even the glossy satire of "Los Ageless" is punctuated by whispered confessions ("I try to write you a love song but it comes out a lament") and limpid steel guitar that melts the rigidity of its beats, a motif that runs through the album. By the time Masseduction closes with the one-two punch of "Slow Disco"s bittersweet knowledge that its time to leave "the bay of mistakes" and the glowering self-destruction of "Smoking Section," Masseduction delivers sketches of chaos with stunning clarity. Its the work of an always savvy artist at her wittiest and saddest. | ||
 | Album: 11 of 11 Title: MassEducation Released: 2018-10-12 Tracks: 12 Duration: 44:58 Scroll: Up Down Top Bottom 25% 50% 75% Spotify AlbumCover | 1 Slow Disco (02:30) 2 Savior (04:18) 3 Masseduction (03:40) 4 Sugarboy (03:49) 5 Fear the Future (02:20) 6 Smoking Section (04:11) 7 Los Ageless (05:15) 8 New York (02:48) 9 Young Lover (04:49) 10 Happy Birthday, Johnny (03:24) 11 Pills (04:59) 12 Hang on Me (02:55) |