Archive for the ‘St. Vincent’ Category
St. Vincent – Actor album Review
Annie Clark or St. Vincent in her photos almost looks angelic or like a stone sculptured goddess. She’s beautiful in the godlike sort of way. In a way her singing and her debut album “Marry Me” played to more of that character. Perhaps joking referring to Bible references and what not showed off her soft smooth vocals in a rather safe manner. While it seems there many St. Vincent fans (I being one of them despite my 4/5 negatively-toned review) the first album still had many weak points that resulted in an album I rarely play often despite the many high points.
Which leads to Actor, the now critically acclaimed album offers much much more despite the blank looking album cover. On this album, St. Vincent discretely or subtly shows off a dark side. I think it comes as much as a surprise in contrast to “Marry Me” which was a little playful but didn’t show as much depth of character. Clark signifies the word “Actor” much more, either with her image being an illusion or signifying many different people as the Pitchfork review suggests.
It makes the music more interesting and I can say that this album in its entirety doesn’t wane from start to finish despite singles The Strangers and Actor Out of Work being at the beginning of the album. I must say the production of this album, is where it ultimately shines bright. Annie Clark and John Congleton skills embark on creating a soft yet dark environment while not taking away from Clark’s vocals. The production probably stands out on Marrow where it attacks with a horror movie like frantic pace…but at times it’s my least favourite track due to taking so much away from Clark as a lead. That’s just one small misstep if anything.
I always tend to run out things good to say when it comes to St. Vincent (I sometimes always end up concentrating on negative aspects on albums). She’s an amazing artist who has both an aura around her yet she’s not afraid to include subtle humour into her songs and now with Actor has added personality into her arsenal (while she was funny before, she seemed – faceless before). She’s takes major steps forward as a result.
Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Excellent album. Probably in my top 20 of ’09 list. I still have a hard time going up and beyond and call it a masterpiece but she inches ever so close. The thing with St. Vincent albums so far is that songs don’t transition as well as you’d like despite most songs being very good.
Actor Out of Work by St. Vincent
Just The Same But Brand New by St. Vincent
The Strangers by St. Vincent
Video for Actor Out of Work after the jump.
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St. Vincent at SXSW
SXSW is over and thanks to Ricky and The Panic Manual, we were able to provide you with SXSW coverage. Original Post. They are also having a 90s dance party on a boat for just 5 bucks on April 9th. For more information click here.
I listened to St. Vincent’s debut album quite a bit when it first came out. The theatrical sultry vocals of Annie Clark was definitely something to behold. I guess I was not the only one enchanted by this Texan singer on Friday night at Antones, judging by the amount of ‘Marry me Annie!’ chants there were. Luckily for her, she also has a song by that name and can simply reply ‘Oh, that’s the song we are playing next’. I had previously seen her a few years ago at Horseshoe, but much to my surprise, this time around, Annie Clark had a rather large band with her, one of whom looked like a greaser from the 50s. Once again, technical difficulties delayed the start of this concert, but once it got going, all it took was a simple ‘hello, We’re St. Vincent’ to get everyone in the place to shut up.
Dressed in black while other band members dressed in white, Annie Clark debuted mostly new material of her upcoming album for the crowd of 200 enthusiastic fans. Even with the addition of a chamber pop backing members, the new material still sounds pretty similar to the old ones, high on lounge quality. I almost think that if you transported St. Vincent back to the 30s, they would be the biggest thing ever. Just as quickly as the set began, the show ended. I guess this is what happens when you play at 12:30 am. No ‘Stars are Aligned’, no ‘Human Racing’, no ‘Paris is Burning’ yet I was still satisfied. St. Vincent has that star like quality about her, when she sings, everyone pays attention, she looks fragile, but then you see her shred the guitar and it’s like whoa. Quite mesmerizing.
Marry Me by St. Vincent
Marry Me Annie by Matthew and The Arrogant Sea
St. Vincent – The Strangers Song Review
St. Vincent’s lead track of her second disc, Actor has been circulating the internet for some time. I was meant to do a video review but caught the flu and was bed ridden. My voice is not in tip-top shape yet and for some, being spared a video review could be a blessing in disguise.
Her first album entitled Marry Me (a poorly written review on my part), featured aw-inducing tracks. Literally, Annie Clark could have you throw up your arms and scream “marry me” with her strong and beautiful voice. I think more then being just a voice, St. Vincent was a strong lyricist to distinguish herself from the crowd. Marry Me or Now, Now had sort of a clever way while being beautiful/catchy at the same time. While overall, the record was great it really helped to have stand outs.
As for The Strangers, as much it makes you love St. Vincent for who she is, it’s not that stand out one likely references. Pitchfork rating the track 7/10 hits the mark on my feelings towards this track. While they don’t say anything particularly negative, and more of a blank 7 so to speak, St. Vincent herself is great but the song isn’t A-material, more or less something that would be a satisfactory song on the album.
I am excited for her next release, while I may not be high on this first track, it’s still very solid.
St. Vincent (Annie Clark) – Marry Me Review
I ran across St. Vincent aka Annie Clark quite randomly. I am trying to figure out which song opened the door to me deciding to review this album. I think my curiosity even overlooked the fact that St. Vincent and the title Marry Me gave off that Christian-y vibe that would usually have me running away. It’s weird for me being a non-Christian to listen to artists who are quite open about their beliefs. It asks the question whether I would’ve bothered to listen to Sufjan Stevens had I known…
Anyway back to Annie Clark, religion aside, she’s a 25-year old singer/song writer from Tulsa, Oklahoma with one hell of a beautiful voice. She’s a member of the Polyphonic Spree (who also kinda scare me).
Marry Me does contain some religious lyrics but I’m doing my best to ignore it. Almost everything is sung beautifully on “Marry Me”. With more of a soul/jazzy vibe on these songs it reminds me a bit of some of the songs on Feist’s Let It Die. None of the songs on the album are overly addictive but I find that all these songs are solid and are carried by Clark’s vocal prowess when things are getting dull. I think it’s a great album from top to bottom though at some points I wish I had more substance but I think I guess it gets coming with the style.
I also think her voice is kind of deep in some areas and I guess I don’t enjoy the lack of femininity (at those times…hmm this statement doesn’t come off the way I like it to). Either way there are some beautiful tracks on Marry Me. The titled song “Marry Me”, I would change my name to John for that song…
Rating: 4 out of 5.
Check out my two favorite tracks.
