The Fleece is packed tonight, condensation running down the walls. It’s fair to say St. Vincent, previously often described in relation to the Polyphonic Spree or Sufjan Stevens, is a star in her own right. On her third album, Strange Mercy, Annie Clark’s aggressive, choppy guitar playing comes to the fore, with wig out a-plenty. Tonight, she’s backed by two vocalists (one of them is support act Cate Le Bon), a drummer and keyboardist. She seems excited that the crowd are packed in and standing – the night before the rarefied atmosphere of London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall had been completely odds with the energy of her performance.
It really is performance too, Clark is very obviously a professional, frequently making subtle gestures to her sound man for monitor adjustments. Her voice is always note perfect, and on first encore ‘The Party’ is frankly incredible. She pauses between songs to recount tales of her tour to date, promising to visit any haunted places we recommend, and shooting the amazing videos for ‘Cruel’ (below) and ‘Strange Mercy’. On ‘Your Lips Are Red’ she appears to be embracing a 1990s dream, climbing off the stage and thrusting her guitar at the crowd in an extended noise solo. It was fun – but it was choreographed fun. That quibble shouldn’t detract from the fact that St Vincent live is a formidable show, and Clark’s enjoyment at least appears genuine (‘I wouldn’t lie to you’, she tells us. ‘Well I might, but not in this context’). A wondrous show.