St. Vincent

Band: St. Vincent

Album: Actor (2009)

Label: 4ad

This post may be quite bias, because I'm pretty sure I'm in love with Annie Clark. How many female musicians do you know that have an angelic voice, but can shred a guitar straight nasty? There's not many. Not only is she gorgeous and supercool, but most importantly incredibly talented. Annie is the former guitar player for the Polyphonic Spree, road guitar player for Sufjan Stevens, and the delightfully eclectic front-woman for St. Vincent.

Annie created most of the music on her newest album Actor in her Brooklyn apartment by watching mainly Criterion Collection and Disney films on mute and scoring them through headphones and Garageband software. Later, she went back and made sense of everything and added lyrics before hitting the studio. Each song is a different scene, more or less, from films that range everywhere from Disney classics to darker, violent films (Badlands, Pierrot le Fou, The Wizard of Oz, Stardust Memories, Sleeping Beauty - to name a few). In her own words, she wanted to make something that was "whimsical, yet disgusting" and credits the woodwind section of her music to the whimsy and her guitar as the "digusting beast." Over both beauty and the beast is her very entrancing vocals. Somehow, this three-headed monster emerged with delightful elegance and eerie beauty.

Here are some videos to let her speak for herself:

Here's what I can't stop listening to as of late:

Artist: Phosphorescent
Title: "Wolves"
Album: Pride (2007)
Label: Dead Oceans


This is one of the most simple and beautiful tracks I have ever heard. Matthew Houck's one-man indie/folk band, Phosphorescent, really has a lot to offer. I find myself unable to move when this song comes on. It completely overpowers me with its cries for help that gently resonate through my speakers. I'm paralyzed by his honest, wavering words sung softly as if he's just moved past fear, anger and sadness, and reverted into childhood thought. He's not whining, he's not bitching and moaning or working something out, he's just awestruck by the power of his ailments; whether it be addiction, depression, social anxiety, etc.

This song makes me remember being a child and being away from my parents - as if a safety net had disappeared and I was discovering everything for the first time. It's becoming overwhelmed with everything that's outside your comfort zone. I felt like these are the thoughts of a child gazing out the window and fearing what's beyond the front door, while at the same time wanting to, but not knowing how to embark beyond his boundaries. There's a struggle that's getting exponentially worse each day, and he can't escape. It's like he's already been taken over by it long ago and is at a point where he's almost admiring it. There's a scene in the film "Aguirre: The Wrath of God" where a conquistador who has been slowly losing his mind aboard a raft floating down an Amazon gets harpooned with a spear by natives from the shore. His only reaction (loosely translated from German) is, "Hmm, I thought it would hurt more" before he falls into the river to his death. It's that separation from your own being that comes after being overtaken by something that allows you to take an inward glance at your ailments, anxieties, and madness. Kind of reminds me of the chorus. The "wolves" that are keeping him inside the house, that won't let him out, that are getting bigger and worse everyday, that he needs his mother to comfort him over he's describing as "beautiful."

All labels and attempted explanations aside, this is a hauntingly beautiful and heartfelt track. It evokes so much with so little. The album is definitely worth a few listens, and is slowly becoming one of my most played records in the collection.

Years Ago, I Was An Angry Young Man

So, here's a blog. I shall ruminate on this throughout the work day to occupy my downtime. Hopefully I'll say some cool shit every once and again. Maybe post a few good pics/vids. Maybe even blow your minds a little. Or maybe I'll just drone on and on. Who knows. Any way you look at it, it's a blog. Cheers.