Music Review: St. Vincent – Marry Me
Nobody is this direct on a debut. We hardly know her and she’s already popping the question. I wouldn’t say we hardly know her – she’s been a touring band member for a few of my favorites, Sufjan Stevens and The Polyphonic Spree. Annie Clark sets out on her own here, under the name St. Vincent, and makes a lasting impression within the first few minutes of Marry Me. She introduces herself by telling us what she’s not:
“(I’m not) your mother’s favorite dog, (I’m not) the carpet you walk on, (I’m not) the pawn to your king, (I’m not) your world on a string.”
With such a tactful, pointed opening, Clark is then free to slowly reveal who she is. Turns out she’s as imperfect as the rest of us (“Jesus Saves, I Spend”), in touch with her humanity (“All My Stars Aligned”), and searching for love as we all do (“Marry Me”). Yet, all these ordinary messages are nested in such extraordinary music.
She’s bound to draw comparisons - Kate Bush, Tori Amos, etc. - but nothing that can be pinpointed. Marry Me contains plenty of unique identifiers. With little help other than David Bowie’s piano man Mike Garson and the percussive genius of Poly Spree’s Brian Teasley, Clark pours a dense mixture into her arrangements. The first half of the disc is aggressive and rocking, the second half jazzy and swaying. The same woman who was “sealing your red lips” with a pounding kiss of death in Track 3, is apologizing with a gentle croon before she parts ways you on Track 11.
Perhaps her moniker, Catholic Patron and Martyr St. Vincent, was chosen to symbolize the self-sacrifice Clark so ably depicts in highlight cut “Land Mines”. Her lyrics suggest she’s willing to do anything for our adoration: “I’m crawling through land mines just to feel where you’ve been.”
In a year with so many incredible contributions from female artists, St. Vincent's Marry Me is undeniably a shining pearl, perhaps more so than Feist’s The Reminder. So should we all love Annie Clark enough to marry her music prowess based on that? With all the honesty present in Marry Me, it’d be difficult to say no. But definitely, we’ll be by the door peering out the blinds, anxiously awaiting her return.
What say you?!