PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR
"I'm Trying To Go Deeper And Go Deeper."
“I can embody it in my physicality on-stage”: St. Vincent at the Life Is Beautiful Music Festival, Las Vegas, September 19, 2021;
Zackery Michael, Backgrid
Who was ST. VINCENT this year? A great bunch of guys, finds TOM DOYLE.
It’s been a standout year for Annie Clark AKA St. Vincent. Springtime saw the arrival of her masterly seventh album, Daddy’s Home, which used Clark’s father’s release from prison (after serving a dozen years for fraud) as the springboard into an album inspired by his ’70s record collection. With it came a new persona – a down-at-heel ’70s glamourpuss marking time ’til cocktail hour –a look she took on the road with a crack band featuring Beck sidekicks Justin Meldal-Johnsen and Jason Falkner and Bowie’s Blackstar drummer Mark Guiliana. Meanwhile, the grey area between performance and reality saw further exploration with the Covid-delayed appearance of Clark’s psychological mockumentary, The Nowhere Inn, where she plays rock star ‘St. Vincent’ opposite Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein, playing wannabe film-maker ‘Carrie Brownstein’. Confused? That’s the idea.