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'I threw flowers in your face on my sister's wedding day.'
We were still waiting in the will-call line when 'The Strangers,' St. Vincent's first track from 2009's Actor (4AD), came blaring through the Electric Factory's walls promptly at 8. Damn. (It didn't help that the bitchiest guy in Philadelphia was ahead of us in line, whining that he shouldn't have to wait in such a long line.)
Opening for Andrew Bird, St. Vincent ' aka Annie Clark, former member of the Polyphonic Spree ' stuck with Actor tracks for the most part of her nine-song set, wavering between the exquisite, ambient swell that's become her signature and a much more dissonant, spazzier sound that I don't think anyone was expecting. As my boyfriend said, 'It's like she goes from Regina Spektor to Sonic Youth in the span of a song.'
Not that there weren't lovely moments amid the madness. 'Save Me from What I Want' started as a slow crescendo of harmonic oohs between lead singer and violinist, slowly building to a wall of perfect sound. By the end, that which had been pleasing to the ear had devolved into a sort of dragged-out, heavy-guitar cacophony with St. Vincent at the center, shaking her head like she'd heard an off note, or she'd fallen into some kind of trance.
But then she was back with 'Actor Out of Work,' thanking Andrew Bird for the opportunity to perform, thanking Philly for listening.
As the set went on, things got a little bit weirder. 'Black Rainbow' featured a white-bandana-clad flutist (who also rocked out on vocals, oboe and sax variously throughout the evening) and major bass notes that shook the floor. And all of a sudden, St. Vincent was tweaking out, like Marty McFly playing 'Johnny B Good' a little too futuristic for the kids of 1955. A strobe light as her background, she jerked and seized, as if to tell us this is what music would be like in another 30 years.
Last and most bizarre, Marry Me's 'Your Lips Are Red' took its time getting started as St. Vincent marched in place as if on a people mover, revving herself up and singing with her eyes closed. In her self-contained groove she might not have even noticed the shirtless, mustachioed guy who came on stage behind her and started dancing ' or, more accurately, thrashing ' with the violinist. The animal in St. Vincent didn't come out till this, the ninth song, where she alternated between Tourette's-inspired jerks and fetal-position squats, and her backing band followed suit, swaying and pulsing till the song reached its limit. With the coo of its final lines, 'Your skin's so fair, it's not fair,' the band came down from its high, morphing into an entirely calmer, more mellow sound, making way for Andrew Bird instead of completely blowing him out of the water.
SET LIST:
1. The Strangers (Actor)
2. Laughing with a Mouthful of Blood (Actor)
3. Save Me from What I Want (Actor)
4. Actor Out of Work (Actor)
5. Now, Now (Marry Me)
6. The Party (Actor)
7. Black Rainbow (Actor)
8. Marrow (Actor)
9. Your Lips Are Red (Marry Me)
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