Eclectic songbird St. Vincent brings her unique brand of avant-pop to Montreal

St. Vincent’s Annie Clark may look and sing like Snow White incarnate, but don’t let that sell her short: she also shreds like it’s nobody’s business. With songs that infuse feminine beauty with brutality and artful kinks, Clark has been helping to redefine indie-pop with an esoteric sound and a turn to the avant-garde.

The Texas-raised, New York City-based songstress and multi-instrumentalist’s latest effort, Strange Mercy, is a progressive follow-up to 2007’s Marry Me and 2009’s Actor. For the pop-skeptical, St. Vincent’s guitar-playing influences range from hard rock and punk to The Beatles’ Let It Be. Her dark side is articulated in her instrumentation as well as in her lyrics, as she plays each clarion riff in anxious staccato, as if she were speaking a second language through her instrument.

While much of Actor was influenced by Disney princess movies, this time around Clark pulled her references from more evocative sources. One song is named after and inspired by 1972 French film Chloe In The Afternoon, but given a dominatrix twist. Debut single “Surgeon” was directly inspired by a line from Marilyn Monroe’s diary: “Best, finest surgeon, come cut me open,” Clark sings, in an ode to severe panic attacks and self-isolation.

It’s rare at best to hear upbeat pop music meant to instigate deeper thought, but that is what St. Vincent is all about. That, and ripping on her axe in a way people can dance to.

St. Vincent
December 17 | Corona Theatre
2490, Notre-Dame Ouest
with Cold Specks
ilovestvincent.com