hooves on the turf

Annie Clark’s weapon is her intent. Her grace is a swift punch packed with pointed articulation, and for this she has found the appropriate musical expression (aided by an assortment of gadgets at her feet, including an expressive kick drum, and the coupling of a regular microphone with a distorted one). Her angry, unrestrained outbursts on the electric guitar show off her control over the instrument, but her playing can hardly be classified as flamboyant or subtle. Instead, the power comes from the emotion she keeps sharpened, which results in clarity without being overbearing. Her singing takes on the same quality- it is the intention that provides shape to her voice that otherwise escapes easy categorization, and it’s this skill of Annie’s that makes her shows powerful, with or without a full band.

More after the jump.

Annie Clark played Bowery Ballroom with the four-piece version of St. Vincent, featuring bass, drums and violin. The singer’s dark humor was on full display as she paused with a ghastly, wide-eyed face during a break of silence in the song about murdering her lover. She had played a few love ballads, it was explained, and what was the other thing as interesting as love, but death. The arm of a mannequin, with a pointed forefinger, stood next to her. It was wired to function as an electronic drum kit, and this too she demonstrated without cracking a smile. After knocking it down during one of the songs, however, she broke into a beam and shrugged innocently as someone came to erect it back in place. Later she expressed confusion and disbelief over having her album sold at actual stores instead of just her mother’s house, and offered to deface her portrait on the album cover if we came down to the merchandise booth. Inspired by her mention of the word “gnarly”, when stumbling through her amazement that people would gather to watch her play, the audience also participated to produce a string of cheesy slangs such as “cawobanga” and “bodacious”.

Previously:

• Favorite song of the week: “Paris Is Burningâ€? by St. Vincent
• St. Vincent at Union Hall – pics
• St. Vincent at Mercury Lounge – pics