A lot has already been written about Annie Clark (aka St. Vincent); I don’t think I can beat this bit from Rolling Stone:
Tour-de-force arrangements encompass Euro-chanteuserie, rackety synth-pop beats and big, swooning ballads, often in the same song.
‘Tis true, but it doesn’t totally capture what’s going on here. For one thing, she’s a wicked good, Berklee-trained guitarist with a very unusual playing and arrangement style. During last night’s set I found myself fixated by her finger-picking and strumming technique – it’s very unusual.
For another, she’s surrounded herself with some crack musicians, who switch between wind instruments, keyboards and guitars. The baritone sax work in Marrow had a crazy, kinetic energy that somehow reminded me of Berlin-era Bowie… a very good thing.
The other interesting thing is how theatrical she is. Much has been made of her good looks and expressive, doe eyes, but she has stage presence and confidence to go with guitar chops. Probably she’s the most interesting musician I’ve seen in years. Can’t wait until she comes through again.
‘Confidence’ really shone through from warmup act Wildbirds & Peacedrums. They’re a two-piece, drums and timpani (!) band. I thought they had an uninhibited animal energy, Susan thought they had “punk rock attitude” (a compliment, meaning they’re totally unafraid to experiment). She scat sings very well, and boy, can that $!^^@ play drums – check this out:
a new favorite thing.
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