St. Vincent - a.k.a. Annie Clark;

I recently caught her performing on Austin City Limits and it was beautiful. The music had a very slow weight that reminded me of many things, L'Altra maybe. I listened to the album again and was mostly bored. Maybe her next album will caputre the magic of her live performances. Even her vocals are the album aren't as beautiful as they are live.

If she's that much better live than on record, I need to see her live badly, because her records are awesome. Prefer the new one to the debut, but only got the debut on Saturday. Seems a little tamer.

I would say that her records are v v compressed compared to live -- this can be true of a great many records v. live situations

i don't hear anything beardy NPR dude about her music at all except that occasionally there are maybe hints of old timeyness to it - but it's much more urban (as opposed to rural, beardy, backwoodsy) sounding than that. glimpses of 1920s glamour rather than that old tyme music hall thing. she is, at her best, totally uncategorisable in the same way that classic old skool 4ad was: haunting, evocative, otherworldly and yet visceral and teeth and bones and blood and flesh rather than filmy ghosts

kate bush comparisons are so o_0 wtf becoz yes, all otherworldly gurl singer-songwriter auteurs must be cut from the same cloth and that is the ETHEREAL staitjacket oh yessss

I would say that her records are v v compressed compared to live

makes sense, you can hear it on the 'Marrow' intro where her "reach the parts that need oilin and fixin" line is a bit too low, quiet and lost in the choral haze.

closest comparison i hear is suzanne vega but honestly i tend to think that a lot for female singers with flatter, less emotive voices and avante-garde leanings

kate bush comparisons are so o_0 wtf becoz yes, all otherworldly gurl singer-songwriter auteurs must be cut from the same cloth and that is the ETHEREAL staitjacket oh yessss

No, it's not that. What Paul in Santa Cruz heard is the best example of what I heard: "The "Paint a black hole blacker" bits in "The Stranger" seem like an obvious Bushism."

Actually, I don't think I've heard another artist that I've thought sounds like Kate Bush.

(I should say that it's the way that portion of the song is arranged and sounds and maybe St. Vincent's delivery -- not the lyrics themselves -- that triggered the comparison for me)

i guess you could say some kate comparisons are more valid than others...

it just seems like such a lazy bad "female, a bit mad, slightly technological" reference point that it's come to be meaningless

Who else is supposed to sound like Kate Bush?

come on, i've heard it used to describe everyone from florence & the machine to voice of the sodding beehive

(anyway i don't actually care about this enough to argue - if it makes more people come around to st.vincent then fine use whatever terminology you want)

Who else is supposed to sound like Kate Bush?

Bat for Lashes, Florence and the Machine, a couple of songs w/female vocals on the last M83 album (e.g., "Up").

Patrick Wolf sounds like Kate Bush occasionally, and very deliberately. Also dresses like her from time to time too. He has a penis.

But yeah, I was saying to Em the other day, I don't know how I'd describe St. Vincent. At all.

Who else is supposed to sound like Kate Bush?

Blue Roses

one sad note - the album is solid gold awesome super brilliant for 7 tracks, but then loses momentum in the final stretch...'just the same but brand new' is really good, but 'the bed' and 'the party' slightly sabotage the flow

sheer martial panic of the slightly 'lonesome tears'-esque ending of 'black rainbow' into the similarly rising but this time utterly sweet rising motif of 'laughing...' = incredible feat of sequencing

erm delete the second 'rising'

The Party has such beautiful lyrics though, Louis.

Especially when she stops singing words.

i realise i'm pretty late to this, but having discovered this through the ilx albums poll a couple of months ago, i can safely say it's the most played thing i;ve had in the house this year... jesus is it already mid-April? I'll be 60 before I know it.

Annie has certain co-lineage w/ Sufjan; what mighst bequeathest if thee parturitate? Immediate immaculate and blinding white-hot winged ascension?

Tonight's Austin City Limits (http://video.pbs.org/video/1697650631/) demonstrates an axe-maven extraordinaire with, yes, the red lips and white skin of the aforementioned "minx" entrenched. It's all true; and i love her for it.

God save St. V!

the Sufjanphonic Squee

i want to eye fuck annie clark while she makes fuzzy noises with her electric guitar

Well it seems you've come to the right pl

Out of everything I discovered through last year's albums poll, "Actor" is the album that I come back to time and again. Absolutely amazing. Had it on constant rotation for 12 months and I still come back for more.

(realises he posted something similar only a few months back).

Set me on fire.

Is there a new album coming soon? Please!

holy shit shes awesome

Really excited for a new album from her, but I'm sure I'm the only person on ILM that thought the last one was a minor disappointment. It seemed to be universally loved, but I wasn't as excited by it as I was by her debut.

The last one wasn't a disappoint, but it wasn't nearly as entrancing as Marry Me.

that big black cover, oh yeah.

i want to eyefuck her while she makes fuzzy noises with her pedals

So great.

Wow. Yeah. "eyefucking". Great.

And you guys have a problem with how *I* talk about, say, Patrick Wolf on this board?

Wow. Yeah. "eyefucking". Great.

And you guys have a problem with how *I* talk about, say, Patrick Wolf on this board?

― Karen D. Tregaskin, Tuesday, May 24, 2011 5:25 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark

I have absolutely no problem with how you talk about Patrick Wolf, so long as you agree that he's mind-blowingly pretty and totally fuckworthy.

But, yeah, while Annie Clark is v. attractive, the proper focus should totally be on the fact that she is a total musical genius.

I'd assumed DL was going "great!" at the cover rather than the weirdo posting above him.

I should probably go back to the last album, I liked it but it never quite resonated with me.

after seeing this thread i relistened to the last one again. i loved it before, still loving it.

Aw, Alex, I've come around on Patrick Wolf, but this isn't the thread for that.

I've just realised I've never actually listened to Marry Me. Which is completely remiss considering how much I loved Actor.

So it's like I get a brand new album now instead of having to wait for one!

To be fair Karen she does have some very large eyeballs

Haha! Oh I'm so looking forward to this. Why did I never check marry me?!?!

New album Sept 13. Stoked.

http://www.4ad.com/news/13/7/2011/stvincentunveilsstrangemercyartworkandtracklisting

Holy moley, her song Surgeon is absolutely dynamite!!

It's really good. Hated that high pitched ending though.

listening to actor atm

Quick trainspotting question for the ILX brane:

The descending vocal part in the intro of this new song, "Surgeon?" It's referencing a big string melody from some kind of soundtrack, something John Barry-ish, or maybe 60s sci-fi -- something I remember mostly because it was prominently sampled as the breakdown of a rave/hardcore track at some point. It's sort of bugging me; anyone recognize those first two lines?

I'm shocked how much I enjoyed this. The singles were not representative at all. Broken Man is still one of my least favourite songs she's done, but overall this is a step up from Daddy's Home despite some clunky lyrics.

I loved St Vincent but the last album was just plain bad and really put me off ever being excited about anything new so I wont be pre-ordering this time (though I haven't played that new song yet) I really hope she's back on form though.

― Toshirō Nofune (The Seventh ILXorai), Thursday, 29 February 2024 21:18 (two months ago)

I like it and ordered the LP.

I finally gave this a listen last night; I need to listen to it more but it seemed much stronger than the last two (I didn't care for the last one, though it was fun seeing some of those songs live when she opened for Roxy Music).

I almost didn't bother listening to All Born Screaming - haven't really liked what she's done since the s/t - but for some reason I did and it's great! guess the lesson is she should stay away from Antonoff

I didn't see her at Riot Fest or Metro last week, but people online were going nuts for her performance.