Pages tagged “st vincent”

St. Vincent's Annie Clark modestly announced that she would be introducing new songs during her 45-minute performance at the Brooklyn Academy of Music's 2008 Takeover. It's the "right venue" to "embarrass" myself at, she quipped. Her statement didn't make much sense after rolling through an untitled track with a wicked salsa beat and "Bicycle," a lilting, melodic shuffle through ornate piano arpeggios. No, she was probably referring to her closing number, in which the Takeover curator himself, Sufjan Stevens, joined her on the melodica for a charming cover of Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight."

She’s #67 on Paste’s top 100 albums of 2007. She has been both an Artist of the Week and a 4 To Watch artist. Yes, St. Vincent is Paste’s sweetheart, so we are happy to let you know that you have more opportunities than you thought to see Ms. Annie Clark perform live this winter.

St. Vincent, who released this year’s Arrested Development-referencing Marry Me will be making her way through Europe until next week, and she will be back on the (American) road in February. Go check her out, and tell her that Paste says hello.

December
3 - Berlin, Germany @ Lido
4 - Hamburg, Germany @ Molotow
7 - Brussels, Belgium @ Rotonde @ Botanique
8 - Utrecht, Netherlands @ Ekko
10 - Milan, Italy @ La Casa
11 - Paris, France @ Point Ephemere

February
17 - San Francisco, Calif. @ Great American Music Hall*
18 - Portland, Ore. @ Doug Fir Lounge*
23 - Chicago, Ill. @ Schubas*
24 - Columbus, Ohio @ Wexner Center (Ohio State University)*
26 - Washington, D.C. @ The Rock and Roll Hotel*
29 - New York, N.Y. @ Bowery Ballroom*

* with Foreign Born

Related links:
ILoveStVincent.com
St. Vincent on MySpace
Paste’s best music of 2007

Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.

Hometown: Dallas, Texas
Sole member: Annie Clark
Fun fact: Clark began composing songs on music-software package Cakewalk when she was 14.
Why she’s worth watching: Clark sent a few demos to friends once she’d completed her album. The response surprised her, especially when she started getting MySpace messages from Capitol Records.
For fans of: Joanna Newsom, My Brightest Diamond, Rufus Wainwright

St. Vincent, aka Texas native Annie Clark, loves a crowd. The singer and guitarist spent time in The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens’ backing band before going solo. She’s also one of nine siblings, so it’s no wonder she sees those bands as big families. “Whenever you get that many people together on stage making music, there’s this transformative thing that happens, just by the sheer volume of heartbeats on stage,” she says while on break from touring with another multi-headed beast, the Arcade fire.

Though the 23-year-old enjoys the group dynamic, her solo debut, Marry Me, also has people excited. It’s filled with delicate orchestration, winsome instrumentation and the kind of sweeping fancy that makes you think Paris, France, not Paris, Texas. Track names like, “Jesus Saves, I Spend,” hint at the record’s dry wit. “I love it when a really macabre or dark lyric is done in a sweet way,” she says. “That kind of frightens me, and I like that.” first single “Now Now” is another example in which a nursery-rhyme-like refrain (“you don’t mean that / say you’re sorry”) turns more sinister through each insistent repetition of the phrase. A cheerful children’s backing chorus only adds to the eeriness.

There’s something disconcerting about the maturity of Marry Me, given Clark’s age. Even more surprising? Clark started writing some of the album’ songs when she was 15. But at 15, she’d already been playing guitar for a few years, and was composing songs on her computer and managing tours for her aunt and uncle, two jazz musicians who took her along on European tours. “Having them be successful working musicians … it’s like anything—your dad’s a banker, so you say, ‘Oh, well, that’s possible.’ They were working and traveling musicians, so I said, ‘That’s possible for me.’”

Annie Clark, the multi-instrumentalist and wordsmith behind St. Vincent, has already brushed off the Sufjan and Polyphonic Spree tour cobwebs and is out on her own for the summer. Today marks the release of her debut full-length, Marry Me, on Beggars Banquet.

The schedule:

July:
10 - Decatur, Ga. - Wordsmiths Books In-Store
11 - Atlanta, Ga. - The Earl*
12 - Asheville, N.C. - Grey Eagle*
13 - Chapel Hill, N.C. - Local 506*
14 - Washington, D.C. - The Rock and Roll Hotel*
15 - Philadelphia, Pa. - North Star Bar*
17 - New York, N.Y. - Bowery Ballroom*
18 - Cambridge, Mass. - Middle East*
19 - Montreal, QC - La Sala Rossa*
20 - Toronto, ON - Horseshoe Tavern*
21 - Cleveland, Ohio - Beachland Tavern*
22 - Chicago, Ill. - Empty Bottle*
24 - Minneapolis, Minn. - 7th Street Entry*
25 - Omaha, Neb. - The Waiting Room*
26 - Kansas City, Mo. - Record Bar*
27 - Denver, Colo. - Hi-Dive*
28 - Salt Lake City, Utah - In The Venue*
30 - Vancouver, BC - Lamplighter #

August:
1 - Portland, Ore. - Doug Fir Lounge #
3 - San Francisco, Calif. - Cafe du Nord #
4 - Los Angeles, Calif. - The Echo #
5 - San Diego, Calif. - Casbah #
7 - Phoenix, Ariz. - Modified #
8 - Tucson, Ariz. - Club Congress
9 - Albuquerque, N.M. - Launchpad

September:
1 - Seattle, Wash. - Bumbershoot

* = w/ Scout Niblett
# = w/ Death Vessel

Related links:
St. Vincent on MySpace
Band of the Week: St. Vincent
"Your Lips Are Red" Video on YouTube

Got news tips for Paste? Email news@pastemagazine.com.

Hometown: Dallas, Texas
Fun Fact: Sole member Annie Clark served as a tour manager for her jazz-musician uncle when she was just 15.
Why She’s Worth Watching: Clark’s clever debut Marry Me comes out July 10, and she’s touring hard through the summer to support it.
For Fans Of: Regina Spektor, Fiona Apple, Rufus Wainwright

During a vacation in the early ’90s, the Clark family caught a stomach bug that ruined a family trip, but may have launched a musical career.