Artist: St. Vincent
Album: Actor
Year: 2009
Grade: 4 pretzels
Annie Clark seems to be adding her name to the running competition to be the “indie Kate Bush.” The one-woman creative force, who performs under the name St. Vincent, has joined fellow eccentric female artists like Natasha Khan of Bat For Lashes in creating music deeply reminiscent of Bush’s beautiful-yet-very-warped style. However, where Bush’s music distorts its overt femininity and “prettiness” with Bush’s operatic voice and chronic abuse of Fairlight synthesizers, Clark has created a sound that’s much closer to the modern indie scene.
On one hand, Actor is a very pretty album. Clark’s voice is very gentle and lilting and there are lots of violins, oboes and other touches that help craft an air of “calm” music. But then shit gets weird. Otherwise pleasant melodies will suddenly get jolted apart by slashes of electric guitar. Sometimes, the melody lines jig and jag at weird, unexpected angles. And, best of all, some of the songs end up disintegrating all together, best heard on the end of the otherwise forgettable “Black Rainbow”, where a cooing clarinet line is devoured by screeching, atonal violins during its closing third. Just like Kate Bush, Annie Clark has found ways to take lovely sounding music and transform it into something much more attention-grabbing and edgy.
Listening to Actor is an odd experience, since the songs basically defy all attempts to predict where they might go next. The stomping “Actor Out Of Work” balances Clark’s pure voice and poetic lyrics with clanging guitars and a melody line that downshifts dramatically in the middle of each verse. Other songs, like “Marrow”, start like the soundtrack to Cinderella, with lots of sunny keyboard squiggles and bird sounds, before industrial crunching and ominous key changes start taking over. Virtually none of the songs end in the same place they start, meaning that each one features moments of pristine beauty as well as chunks of chaotic noise. It’s a pretty jarring change from the usual female singer-songwriter mold.
As with many experimental indie pop albums, listening to Actor can become a bit of an exhausting listen. With all the zigzags in mood and tone, the album can be a bit difficult to pin down and really enjoy. It never quite gets into one of those grooves that just leaves you rapt with attention. However, the high points are many, from the aforementioned tracks to the rolling rhythms of “Save Me From What I Want”. Annie Clark has come a long way from her beginnings as a member of the Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens’ backing band. She’s clearly a talented, individualistic songwriter who’s making music very unlike anything anyone else is doing right now.
On one hand, Actor is a very pretty album. Clark’s voice is very gentle and lilting and there are lots of violins, oboes and other touches that help craft an air of “calm” music. But then shit gets weird. Otherwise pleasant melodies will suddenly get jolted apart by slashes of electric guitar. Sometimes, the melody lines jig and jag at weird, unexpected angles. And, best of all, some of the songs end up disintegrating all together, best heard on the end of the otherwise forgettable “Black Rainbow”, where a cooing clarinet line is devoured by screeching, atonal violins during its closing third. Just like Kate Bush, Annie Clark has found ways to take lovely sounding music and transform it into something much more attention-grabbing and edgy.
Listening to Actor is an odd experience, since the songs basically defy all attempts to predict where they might go next. The stomping “Actor Out Of Work” balances Clark’s pure voice and poetic lyrics with clanging guitars and a melody line that downshifts dramatically in the middle of each verse. Other songs, like “Marrow”, start like the soundtrack to Cinderella, with lots of sunny keyboard squiggles and bird sounds, before industrial crunching and ominous key changes start taking over. Virtually none of the songs end in the same place they start, meaning that each one features moments of pristine beauty as well as chunks of chaotic noise. It’s a pretty jarring change from the usual female singer-songwriter mold.
As with many experimental indie pop albums, listening to Actor can become a bit of an exhausting listen. With all the zigzags in mood and tone, the album can be a bit difficult to pin down and really enjoy. It never quite gets into one of those grooves that just leaves you rapt with attention. However, the high points are many, from the aforementioned tracks to the rolling rhythms of “Save Me From What I Want”. Annie Clark has come a long way from her beginnings as a member of the Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens’ backing band. She’s clearly a talented, individualistic songwriter who’s making music very unlike anything anyone else is doing right now.
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