St Vincent 'Actor' album

On May 5, 4AD will release 'Actor' the anticipated new album by St. Vincent (nee Annie Clark), and the follow-up to her first album 'Marry Me,' one of the most acclaimed debuts of 2007. 'Actor' was co-produced by Clark and John Congleton (Modest Mouse, Polyphonic Spree etc...) and features eleven new songs, all written and arranged by Clark.

'Actor' takes the ambitious compositional and sonic underpinnings of Clark's debut as a starting point and never looks back. The arrangements are more masterful, the songwriting grander, the performances ever more confident and inspired. "I wanted to make these songs technicolor animatronic rides," says Clark.

Clark, "a playful chanteuse [and] fearsome shredder" (NY Times), sings and plays guitar, bass and keys on 'Actor,' with woodwind contributions from Hideaki Aomori (Sufjan Stevens) and Alex Sopp (Bjork, Phillip Glass), and additional rhythm section work by McKenzie Smith and Paul Alexander of Midlake. Other musicians on the album include Mike Atkinson (French horn, score consultant), Daniel Hart (violin, sarongi), William Flynn (bass), and percussionists Jeff Ryan, Matthias Bossi, and Aynsley Powell.

St. Vincent will preview songs from 'Actor' with two shows at this year's South by Southwest conference in Austin: Wednesday, March 18 at the Central Presbyterian Church as part of the 4AD showcase, and Friday, March 20 at Antone's as part of the Billions Corporation showcase. Clark will also tour the U.S. this year with Bonnaroo and Sasquatch! Festival performances already confirmed and a full itinerary to be announced soon.

The first St. Vincent album 'Marry Me' earned widespread praise - including a memorable 2008 article in The New York Times Magazine - and heralded the arrival of "a bewitching entertainer who demands every second of your attention" (Chicago Tribune). Clark toured extensively in support of 'Marry Me' with artists like The National, Death Cab for Cutie, and Arcade Fire, and was named Female Artist of the Year at the 2008 PLUG Independent Music Awards. Before recording as St. Vincent, Annie Clark was a member of The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens' touring band, and performed with Glenn Branca's guitar orchestra.

St Vincent biography
Two years ago, Annie Clark’s recorded debut as St. Vincent, ‘Marry Me’, gave immediate notice that a dizzying new talent had emerged from the flatlands of Texas. Critics from all points of the cultural compass—from Pitchfork to Spin to the New York Times Magazine—were entranced by the album’s precocious arrangements and elegant lyrics, and the steadily growing crowds at St. Vincent’s live shows were astonished by Clark’s gargantuan musical chops and her magnetic stage presence. No small number of St. Vincent fans took the title of ‘Marry Me’ literally, had their hearts duly broken, and wouldn’t have had it any other way. The record was heralded as a remarkably successful entrance and Clark capped a year of international touring by winning the Plug Awards’ Female Artist of the Year.

’Actor’, St. Vincent’s beguiling, sophisticated new record, takes that debut’s ambition as its starting point and never looks back. The arrangements are more masterful, the songwriting grander, the performances ever more confident and inspired. Clark developed an idiosyncratic writing process for ‘Actor’, immersing herself in some of her favorite films—Badlands, Pierrot le Fou, The Wizard of Oz, Stardust Memories, Sleeping Beauty—and beginning each song as a secret film score, then slowly giving it independence as its structure and lyrics came fully into focus. The resulting eleven tracks are as cinematic as pop songs can be, but the movie is a private one, revealing its storyline in hushed, cunning couplets and cascades of scathing guitar.

Here is a record to listen to with your eyes closed. Melodies are transposed and inverted. The fantasy of Disney is juxtaposed with the sweep of Morricone, David Mamet’s unsettling dramatic form and the alienation of Philip Roth. Igor Stravinsky scores Roger Corman’s horror flicks.

‘The Strangers’ starts off as a deceptively dulcet elegy for a lost love, then suddenly capsizes under a flood of distortion. ‘Actor Out Of Work’ is a devastating sonic kiss-off, complete with slyly poisonous lyrics and steamrolling guitars. The strings and woodwinds at the opening of ‘Marrow’ might be escorting Dorothy to the Emerald City, or straight into the flying monkeys’ clutches. The crackerjack band, including supporting turns by McKenzie Smith and Paul Alexander of Midlake, has the crunch of a tank and the grace of a chamber ensemble.

If ‘Marry Me’ served as the world’s introduction to Annie Clark, ‘Actor’ may prove to be her coronation. As the terrifyingly beautiful movie inside Clark’s head flickers across the screen, we can all feel privileged to be in the seats.

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St Vincent - Actor