Seeing Annie Clark solo with guitar is nothing new for those that have been seeing her shows since the pre-Actor days, but even then St. Vincent was never interested in going the simply strummed acoustic route. In order to flesh out her songs, music that often winds off-kilter harmonic trails through sudden structural shifts, her solo stints generally rely as much on loops and pedals as an ever-present electric guitar. Until this trio of live clips on Music Row in Nashville by Lake Fever Productions, unplugged renditions of Actor and Marry Me standouts which Annie introduces by admitting “Well, I don’t even think I own an acoustic guitar…” Hard to believe that from these deft bedsit rearrangements, though, with a bossa-styled jaunt through “Actor Out Of Work“; gorgeously voiced fingerpicking on “The Strangers” (sans thrashy exeunt, naturally); and a more rolling, folkie pass through Actor bonus cut “Oh My God.” If St. Vincent material can sound this good without her even owning an acoustic guitar, just wait until somebody gets smart and buys her one. (Hint, 4AD.)
“Actor Out Of Work”
“The Strangers”
“Oh My God”
Actor is out.
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Come on ‘gum…..do we really need the 500 days of summer plastered all over our screens when we’re trying to read something?
I can’t hear you over all the ads.
That’s really interesting to hear. It reminds me of Andrew Bird it 2 ways. One is that she seems to be actively exploring the song during as opposed to performing a set piece of music. The other thing like Andrew Bird is that she seems like she would have a natural talent to make bad easy-listening jazz, but somehow suppresses that sound to do something more indie. I think they are both great talents, but it seems either of them could turn in horrendous sounding records if they got lazy.
Or I could be totally wrong.
“Oh My God” isn’t off of Marry Me. It’s a bonus track from Actor.
actor is seriously my favorite record this year. no fucking joke.
god i love annie, shes great
love the bossa feel on “actor”
Is it just me or does this stripped-down version of Strangers sound like a White Album outtake?
Does she really not own an acoustic guitar? That’s infuriating.
I don’t think Sufjan Stevens did/does either for a long time.I don’t get it.
Dearest Annie Clark,
Ok so I’ll take this opportunity to openly ask you out on a date. I know I’m just a regular guy who happens to enjoy your music but I promise you I won’t be like one of those douches that will just cling to you like a stalker. We could just do a movie some time if you’d like.. there’s this movie “500 Days of Summer” that’s been on my mind that maybe we could check out.. it has this one chick Zooey Deschanel that I also happen to have a crush on but she ended up hooking up with this one guy named Ben or something.. anyways so yeah if you wanna do something some time you can bring your acoustic and we’ll just hang. Hit me back!
can we share her?
little too much reverb
Anyone know what is that vocal mic that she is using? Looks and sounds nice!
I believe that mic is a Telefunken ELA M 251. They are crazy, crazy expensive.
All of them were terrific, but “The Strangers” was hands down my favorite. And I have an acoustic guitar you can have, Annie. I can’t play for shit anyway.
a girl with a guitar? why doesn’t she just staple a penis between her legs.
Because that would just be ridiculous. Stapling a penis between your legs. Come on man.
She is a kick ass guitar player.
Actor Out Of Work was probably one of my least favorites on the album, but I really love this version!
The microphone used was actually a Korby Kat4 with a Neumann U67 style capsule. To us it’s priceless. Annie was awesome and great to work with. Can’t say enough nice things about her really.
Ah! I knew the ELA M 251 didn’t have that silver band running around the top of the windscreen, but everything else looked like a Telefunken to me. The Korby Kat 4 is the one with the interchangeable capsules? So hot. You guys used it to great effect here. Sounds excellent.
she is at least a foot and a half away from the mic yet she sounds like she is singing right into both of my ears. What an amazing mic.
… and that, ladies and gentlemen, is called talent.
sounds great. “actor” is fantastic.