St.Vincent

Despite the unbearable heat in the basement of Glasgow’s Stereo, Annie Clark, the stunning focal point of St. Vincent, appears cool and comfortable.

Annie Clark is touring behind her critically acclaimed third LP, Strange Mercy. Her past experiences as part of indie mega-groups The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens’ touring band have clearly made her a veteran on the stage. Tonight, she stands with a substantially smaller band of four members but the air is neverthless thick with music.

Opening the show with Surgeon Clark immediately establishes the sense of contrast that garners so much affection for her music. Synthetic strings and soft vocals immediately give way to her harsh, bare, crackling guitar-work. Throughout the show, it becomes clear that Clark’s guitar has been robbed of most of its grit on record, forcing the audience to revel in every moment they can before the night ends.

Tearing through commanding renditions of old favourites like Marrow, new mainstays like Cruel and the odd story about drunken deer chases, helps to confirm Clark as the inspiring, endearing woman that comes across on her records.

Clark finds time in the encore to showcase her strikingly beautiful voice once more, which was almost forsaken behind her heavily guitar centric set, with an ethereal keyboard rendition of The Party which leaves the room in beatific silence.

It seems that St. Vincent has turned a corner with her most recent tour, ditching Nico covers for ones by The Pop Group and delving deeper into her own brand of art-rock. While some may not find her unconventional compositions inspiring, Annie Clark is proving that she is pulling away from the pack of indie artists, stupefying her fans with her own brand of awesomeness.