St. Vincent

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Annie Clark (born 1982] in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is an American multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter who performs under the moniker St. Vincent.

Annie Clark attended the Berklee College of Music and released an EP with fellow students in 2003, entitled Ratsliveonnoevilstar.

Clark joined Sufjan Stevens' touring band in 2006.

[glow=red,2,300]Paris is Burning EP (2006)[/glow]
The same year, she released an EP to coincide with her European tour supporting Stevens. Entitled Paris Is Burning, it contains three tracks, including a cover version of Jackson Browne's "These Days".

These Days


Paris Is Burning

In 2007 Clark became the guitar player for The Polyphonic Spree. She appears on their 2007 album The Fragile Army.

[glow=red,2,300]Marry Me (2007)
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Clark released her debut album, Marry Me, July 10, 2007 on Beggars Banquet Records. Named after a line from the cult-hit television show Arrested Development [4], the LP features appearances from drummer Brian Teasley (Man or Astro-man?, The Polyphonic Spree), Mike Garson (David Bowie's longtime pianist), and horn player Louis Schwadron (The Polyphonic Spree). In 2008 Clark was nominated for three PLUG Independent Music Awards: New Artist of the Year, Female Artist of the Year, and Music Video of the Year, and on 6 March 2008, she won the Female Artist of the Year award.

Jesus Saves, I Spend


Marry Me


Now Now

Actor (2009)


The new album by St. Vincent, Actor, just came out this week. The 26-year-old Brooklyn (by way of Dallas) singer/songwriter channeled her love of film scores, particularly those of Disney and Woody Allen, on her sophomore release. The 11-song set features Clark's sweeping, soothing voice atop orchestrated pop, a departure from the more guitar-driven rock of "Marry Me."

"I was president of my theater club," Clark says. "I did high school plays. It's something that I absolutely love, but I'm absolutely abominable at. But being good or not didn't hinder my enjoyment of it. I loved everything about it, from the staging to the lights to the underpinnings."

Early on in her musical career, she exercised that theatrical side as a touring member of the joyful rock troupe Polyphonic Spree and with Sufjan Stevens, both of which incorporate theatrics and elaborate costuming.

On "Actor," Clark's writing process was esoteric. She used Apple's Garage Band software to orchestrate the elaborate, whimsical arrangements, then worked backward to create pop melodies and lyrics. "I didn't write it on guitar, I didn't write it on piano. It was really, really weird," she says.

Clark believes the new album's music would lend itself to film or TV. "The little seed to every song was envisioned as a film score--or scoring scenes from movies that I love," she says. "At some point, I would like to try my hand at a proper film score."

After hearing the record, 4AD realized it had a budding film composer on its hands, so it scheduled private performances in Boston, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, with an eye toward showcasing the songs for film and TV supervisors.

In addition, 4AD lined up a private showcase for executives and supervisors at Fox and is fielding requests from three ad agencies in New York. "Where we won't necessarily get immediate results from having her do these, they're certainly important to do," says Miwa Okumura, senior product manager at 4AD parent company the Beggars Group. "Especially for someone like Annie who makes a very strong first impression."

4AD is offering the record for pre-order six weeks before street date with a bonus 7-inch included with orders. "Actor" will stream in its entirety through NPR's "First Listen" program two weeks before its release, and AOL's Spinner debuted the video for "Actor out of Work" April 10. Major festival appearances (Sasquatch, Bonnaroo, All Points West) will be included on a larger, headlining tour.

Actor Out of Work


The Strangers

Marrow

The Party

I'm new to St. Vincent, so i have never seen her live. In fact, when i signed up to do this, I knew nothing about her. I saw some youtube vids, decided I would like her, so i signed up. Since then, I have pretty much fallen in love with her. Both albums are great. She does all the writing and most of the playing herself, which is very impressive. Some vids on youtube, she is playing solo, just her, a guitar and shitload of pedals. I prefer her with the band, but either way she is awesome.