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Concert reviews Music

St. Vincent makes it look easy

ST. VINCENT at the Phoenix, Thursday, December 15. Rating: NNNN


After decades of suffering through indie bands that treat technique as something to be ashamed of, it’s refreshing to watch someone like St. Vincent (aka Annie Clark) effortlessly blasting out her baroque alien fuzz guitar leads and gracefully wrapping her crystalline voice around the grand romantic melodies of her strangely beautiful newest album Strange Mercy.

Considering how easy she makes it look, it was kind of shocking when not long into her set she had to restart Dilettante a few times because she forgot the opening lyrics and had to ask the crowd what the first line was.

It was the kind of stumble that almost seemed staged, as she didn’t show any panic, and given the roar that greeted the eventual successful attempt, it didn’t seem like the crowd minded.

The set was heavily dominated by material from Strange Mercy, which is easily her strongest record to date.

While older songs still got a good response from the room, the big artistic leap she’s made since was obvious. She probably should have saved more of the recent songs for the latter half of the show, as the pacing of the set was a bit odd.

But given just how impressive she actually sounds live, flubbed lyrics and an oddly structured set lists are relatively minor complaints.

Read an interview with St. Vincent and watch her in concert here.

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