The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
 
Big Hurt  |  CD Reviews  |  Classical  |  Jazz  |  Live Reviews  |  Music Features
Best2012Vote-1000x50

St. Vincent

Marry Me | Beggars Banquet
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY  |  July 30, 2007
3.0 3.0 Stars
inside_marryme
Annie Clark cut her teeth performing with progressive folk wunderkind Sufjan Stevens, art-rock hero Glenn Branca, and the psych-pop orchestra the Polyphonic Spree. So it’s no surprise that the 24-year old multi-instrumentalist covers a lot of musical ground on her debut album as St. Vincent. This disc is both violent and romantic, offering warm singer-songwriter torch songs and jagged avant-noise frays with large-hearted choral flourishes. Clark’s soaring soprano is capable of hitting a Billie Holiday swoon just as easily as a sinister incantation. The lyrics find her grappling with two contradictory needs: independence and an anchor. She longs for France and a husband in “Paris Is Burning,” a song set in the midst of a revolution, but her proposal — “Marry me, John/I’ll be so good to you/You won’t realize I’m gone” — has a sinister undercurrent. “Your Lips Are Red” is a haunted-house cabaret of unrelenting kickdrum, sudden piano crashes, and violin screeches, and “Paris Is Burning” melds her nimble finger-picking with programmed beats and mangled synth fills. Clark tempers the brash experimentalism with a few safely played jazzy ballads that display her range.
Related: St. Vincent's Actor gets a run-through, Annie in Wonderland, Cool papa, hot mama, More more >
  Topics: CD Reviews , Entertainment, Music, Pop and Rock Music,  More more >
| More

 Friends' Activity   Popular   Most Viewed 
[ 02/18 ]   "Boston Facial Hair Fiasco!"  @ Church of Boston
[ 02/18 ]   Cuffs + Woollen Kits + Headband  @ Plough & Stars
[ 02/18 ]   The Ducky Boys + Hudson Falcons + Energy  @ Great Scott
ARTICLES BY CHRISTOPHER GRAY
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   FAKE IT SO REAL CONSIDERS THE ARTS OF STORYTELLING AND BODYSLAMS  |  February 01, 2012
    Almost any documentary about a niche hobby or creative outlet (think Every Little Step or Spellbound ) devotes some amount of screen time to the therapeutic value of such unlikely obsessions.
  •   REVIEW: DRAGONSLAYER  |  January 04, 2012
    Josh "Skreech" Sandoval is a slacker. A onetime professional skateboarder both admired for and limited by the "random chaos" of his technique, Sandoval abandoned sponsorships and relative fame in search of greater freedom.
  •   A GOOD FESTIVAL BECOMES A GREAT ONE IN THE MIDCOAST THIS WEEKEND  |  September 28, 2011
    Last year, the big stories out of the Camden International Film Festival were its newfound industry cachet and a very noticeable uptick in Portlanders making the trip up to Midcoast Maine's annual documentary showcase.
  •   FOUR-HOUR SHOWSTOPPERS AND MALCOLM MCDOWELL COME TO WATERVILLE  |  July 13, 2011
    Boasting a high-profile selection of archival prints and to-be-buzzed-about small films, the 14th Maine International Film Festival begins on Friday and runs through July 24 at locations in Waterville, primarily HQ Railroad Square Cinema. Herein, a guide to the festivities.
  •   MOD NIGHT AT EMPIRE DINE AND DANCE, JUNE 3  |  June 08, 2011
    Speaking from experience collaborating with him on the decks, the litmus test that best gauges the success of any Ian Paige DJ night is how well Booker T and the MGs' "Green Onions" goes over.

 See all articles by: CHRISTOPHER GRAY

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed