Almost two years after the release of Marry Me, St. Vincent, aka Annie Clark, is back with her sophomore album this May: It's called Actor and she co-produced it with the pAper chAse's John Congleton (Modest Mouse, Thermals, Smog, Polyphonic Spree, etc). Clark wrote/arranged the 11 songs and sings, plays guitar, bass, and keys, but brought on some additional players like Hideaki Aomori (Sufjan Stevens), Alex Sopp (Björk, Phillip Glass), and increased the rhythm section with Midlake's McKenzie Smith and Paul Alexander. There's also French horn, violin, sarongi, bass, and percussion. Still, really, she's front and center, which is why the cover art makes sense. It also carries on the tradition of Marry Me and confirms something Amrit said to me earlier today: "She loves closeups of her face." Yes she does. I guess she's assuming you do, too.
Miranda July.
The songs:
01 "The Strangers"
02 "Save Me From What I Want"
03 "Neighbors"
04 "Actor Out of Work"
05 "Black Rainbow"
06 "Laughing With a Mouth of Blood"
07 "Marrow"
08 "The Bed"
09 "The Party"
10 "Just the Same But Brand New"
11 "The Sequel"
What does "Laughing With A Mouth Of Blood" or a "Black Rainbow" sound like? Clark notes that she "wanted to make [Actor's songs] technicolor animatronic rides." The first single, "Actor Out Of Work," is out on 4/20, dude.
Actor is out 5/4 via 4AD. Live:
02/27 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall (Noise Pop Festival)
03/18 Austin, TX @ Central Presbyterian Church (4AD SXSW showcase)
03/20 Austin, TX @ Antone's (Billions Corporation SXSW showcase)
[Red shirt photo by Annabel Mehran]
