At this point in her career, Annie Clark inhabits her moniker St. Vincent like an old hat. After all, the 25-year-old singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist already boasts an indie track record that would befit an act with a few more rings around its trunk.
Her exploits include collaboration with the Polyphonic Spree on their latest, "The Fragile Army," and work on her own LP with Mark Garson, the "Aladdin Sane"-era pianist for David Bowie, not to mention touring with Sufjan Stevens, John Vanderslice and The National.
Clark's own musical output, which culminated in last year's shimmering LP "Marry Me," displays a diverse palette spacious enough to touch on tender love ballads, blazing guitar-rock virtuosity and bouncing World War II-era cabaret. Sometimes addressing the intimately personal and other times pondering the superficially conventional, her lyrical work reveals a penetrating yet blithe artistic perspective.
It comes as little surprise then that The Eagle was delighted to get a chance to speak with her before her show at D.C.'s Rock and Roll Hotel. She spoke about her record's reception, the rigors of touring and her fans' blush-inducing compliments.
The Eagle: So I know you're touring right now. Where do you find yourself in the country?
AC: I am in Fargo, North Dakota, at the local Super 8.
The Eagle: A Super 8? I just watched "Fargo" the other night, actually. Is it as cold and snowy right now as they depict it to be?
AC: We really lucked out because we had a two-day drive across Washington, Montana and North Dakota, and we got lucky (knock on wood) that there was no bad weather. It's definitely snowy here, but the roads are OK.
The Eagle: So, how often do you have to ask what day it is? Is your tour schedule that busy?
AC: Yeah, I generally don't know what day of the week it is. Actually, I've found since I've been touring pretty non-stop for the past year and a half, I get to go to so many places with different climates. I just got back from Australia, which being in the Southern Hemisphere, of course, it's summertime there. So, I'll be driving down the street in some part of the country or some part of the world and really not know what month it is. Like I thought yesterday that it was fall, like it was September. I was sort of arranging my brain and my schedule around the fact that it was September, and oh no wait, I thought, it's March. Or April, or when is it February?
The Eagle: You were just touring in Australia? Was that with Sufjan Stevens or was that solo?
AC: Yeah, that was with Sufjan. I played a show in Melbourne that was solo.
The Eagle: How does it differ touring while backing Sufjan's band from touring solo?
AC: Well, I would say they're really just completely different entities altogether. I really just enjoy being a part of Sufjan Stevens' band, you know, being a tool for whatever they need me to play.
The Eagle: Are there any really good stories from the tours?
AC: Yeah, tour stories. Well, it was probably hilarious for me and maybe the five other people at the time, but probably not anecdotally funny to anyone else, unfortunately.
The Eagle: That's fine. I think we all have those. I suppose this next question is a bit of a non sequitur, but if you had to be some other Annie, would you rather be Annie Hall or Annie Oakley?
AC: It's definitely a really tough call, and I appreciate the question because I've never gotten it before.
The Eagle: If you have to think about it, we could come back ...
AC: No, no. I think Annie Oakley because she's so great, but I'm such a Woody Allen fan that I'd have to go with Annie Hall. She has such a sense of style in that movie.
The Eagle: She does. I tell you, Diane Keaton. Well, we saw your music video for "Jesus Saves, I Spend" (Found on "Marry Me" out on Beggars Banquet), and that was simply great. But if you could make your ideal music video, what would it be? Time period, money, etc. not being an issue.
AC: I think I would just love to watch someone like Michel Gondry work and just kind of be a vehicle for him. I think that would be something really special. I think my ideal music video wouldn't be something where I'm awkwardly lip-synching.
The Eagle: Concerning "Marry Me," it has a certain layered aesthetic to it that seems to vary pretty widely from the live show, which tends to emphasize the guitar. Can you tell us about the difference?
AC: Sure. Well, there is a lot of guitar on the album that doesn't sound like a guitar. You wouldn't necessarily hear it and think, oh, well that's obviously a guitar. I've been recording on computer-based systems since I was 13, so that sort of multi-track arranging sensibility has become really ingrained in my songwriting process, so it's funny to think of the "Marry Me" record because a lot of the songs that are on it had never been played live before they were recorded. So obviously when we play these things live, and I've got a band for this tour, we try to stretch it out and make a little more Technicolor. And I like to step out on the guitar a little bit more.
The Eagle: I guess the other aspect of "Marry Me" that really stands out is the lyrical work. It's at times seemingly personal, like with "Landmines," and at others incredibly tongue-in-cheek (the title track). Can you describe what your intentions were with the word play on the record?
AC: Well, every song on the album is honest on some level in terms of if there is something personal, maybe not literally, narratively truthful. But definitely there is some core of truth to it that I connected to. The title track, for instance. The song was written out of an actual relationship gone awry, but once you put social convention and everyone that surrounds love in our modern age, it's social commentary as well actual earnestness and, of course, irony.
The Eagle: The social commentary is pretty evident on the record. Was there a message you meant to send with songs like for example "Paris is Burning?"
AC: I don't know if I was trying to put forward some sort of message per se. It was more trying to get in touch with my sense of sympathy and examine violence with a capital "V." On a sort of human scale, and a very personal, internal scale. That was what I was trying to examine on a song like "Paris is Burning," speaking on the personal and the political as well.
The Eagle: In concerns to "Marry Me," does it get old the screams of ""Marry Me, Annie?" The outpour of affection for the record, do you get a lot of that?
AC: Oh, it's great. These past shows on the West Coast have been so gratifying. More than double the people that came last time came this time. And they've had longer to soak in the record, to enjoy and let it assimilate into their own lives. People's enthusiasm about it is immensely humbling and gratifying. So, I mean, I always blush when anyone yells it out, but it's still delightful.
