Actor has its share of tracks that could work in a late night context, but you can’t blame Annie for returning to the song that was so strong on Letterman that Ted Leo demanded we post it. (Also he demanded that because he was scared he would fall asleep. Anyway.) It was strong, and it’s a smart showcase for what Annie brings when in her element live, with its off-beat vocal melody, an airy passage where she can unleash those eyes on the crowd, weird guitar chord inversions, and that “H-E-L-P” chorus which, with its syncopated arpeggios and machine gun sax, strikes like a tweaked-out/blog-approved Dave Matthews Band. (Relax, those guys could play, and yes they did sound like that.) The night after Letterman I saw her play a show at Bell House where, for my first time, I saw her have an entire crowd eating out of her hand start to finish. So Annie plus singers/horns/band making swift work of “Marrow” on Kimmel last night reminded me of all that, and that’s a good thing.
Actor is out via 4AD.
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This is a good one…The Letterman version sounds better…
I beg to differ. Letterman was pretty good, but this was absolutely incredible. The solo? The drummer? The mix? The way she hits her guitar during the second verse? All perfect.
Also, isn’t that the guy from We Are Scientists? Huh. Weird.
I thought the same thing about that horn line. Straight outta Crash era DMB. Not exactly a bad thing, but it did give me middle school flashbacks.
Damn this is so, so boring. So many of them on stage yet the sound is so thin. She is a very mediocre and unimaginative guitar player, the bass and drums sound generic and boring also. I still do not understand the hype about this girl.
I agree completely. I don’t quite understand all the hype for her either.
Agreed. 7+ people on stage to do a rock song is always a bad sign. I just listened to a hilarious interview where they keep describing her as a ‘shredder’. I think any girl playing anything besides basic chords on electric guitar is a shredder to the unenlightened.
I still think she’s awesome all the same. I love both her albums. She has a quirky sound that’s not difficult to listen to and her lyrics are great. Normal is relative. With the exception of 1901 and Little Secrets, this is one of my favorite songs this year.
She may not be a “shredder”, but she is a damn good guitar player:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lan-UQfN0zs
Dig a pony is a joke to play. I bet most people think she’s a good guitar player because she’s a girl. She’s mediocre at best.
well she’s been playing guitar for like two decades,so when people relate to her as shredding they usually relate to her live shows or the album before that Marry Me,but she couldn’t shred as much as she wanted to like her live shows because she had a time constraint on well NATIONAL TELIVISION,she’s usually more imaginative other than that.
agreed, she’s pure shite
The Letterman performance wins because of Shara Worden, who is not present on this one.
Love that nasty guitar tone.
Bass player looks like Bobby Flay.
I also feel the Letterman performance was the better of two greats. But I was happy to be treated with two songs!
pretty good
not knowing anything about st. vincent, i like this. definitely better than any recent nickelback song.
Geez, why do people always hate on nickelback? If you don’t like a band’s music you should just shut up.
Just kidding guys.