tulsa born and current brooklyn-ite annie clark performs under the non de song st vincent (a family middle name passed down through generations).  she contributed to glenn branca's 100 guitar orchestra, performed in sufjan stevens touring band and was a member of the polyphonic spree (guitar and background vocals).  previously, she toured with indie heavy hitters death cab for cutie, the national, arcade fire and midlake.

st vincent began playing guitar in 1994 at the age of 12; in her teens she served as the tour manager to her uncle’s band.  in 2007 she released her debut album marry me, where among other instruments she played guitar, bass, organ, moog, and piano.  the album was described by npr as being “filled with off-kilter rhythms, strangely melodic electronic arrangements and cryptic narratives”.  incidentally, the album is named after a line from one of the greatest tv shows of all time: arrested development.

she released her second l.p. may 05, 2009.  actor, a collection of quirky and intricate pop songs and includes contributions by woodwind players hideaki aomori, alex sopp and two members from the band midlake.

in 2008, after a year and a half of touring, st vincent’s “brain was sort of all circuit boards that were a little bit fried,” she said.  to regroup, she began watching classic movies like casablanca, snow white and the seven dwarfs and chinatown.  as she watched the films she began to imagine her own score and mixed spur-of-the-moment musical ideas on her computer.  this she said “started to just really inform the entire record”.

she became so obsessed with the idea of film informing music making, that she began casting instruments in terms of their personality.  ”the woodwinds will be this thing that represents this absolute purity and whimsy,” she said.  “then the guitar will be this sort of scary monster that comes in and threatens to topple the entire piece."

actually, her song "marrow," was inspired from the scene in the wizard of oz where dorothy and the wizard first met.

click here for may 22, 2009 set recorded by npr's all songs considered  in d.c.  click here for a may 24, 2009 all things considered interview and profile.  click here to watch a sxsw rehearsal session march 31, 2009.  click here for a set and interview recorded on july 10, 2008 by the bryant park project.  click here for a session recorded by mpr's current studio.  click here for a live session at "other music" recorded by vimeo.  don't forget, the album cover image always links to sample songs and the band's image to their website.

check here to see if st vincent has any gigs scheduled near you.

as always, please buy this album from your local independent music store by people who know and love music and not from retailers like wal-mart (soulless, globally-homogenizing, community-killers) or i-tunes (albums should be listened to as an entire composition with album cover and liner notes in hand).  incidentally, these two companies sell more music than any other retailer in the united states.  that my friend, bites.