St. Vincent is the band of singer-multi-instrumentalist, Annie Clark. The 23- year old is a veteran guitarist for two musical armies, The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens’s touring band. Marry Me, St. Vincent’s debut set, was released recently.

i downloaded this album after reading that description, along with this commentary, on bob carlton’s blog:

After listening for the past day, what charms me is a deluge of guitar, bass, and beats pulsing forward with warmth and immediacy alongside Annie’s classy soprano. Her lyrics can be weird or tongue-in-cheek or dead serious, capturing what it feels like to be 23 years old in America and caught up in “the delirium of love blues and wartime blues and the various swashbuckling adventures of existence”.

it’s such an amazing album. rich in texture and, at least for me, invitational and urgent in lyrics. there are surprises all over the place, both musical and lyrical. and her voice, it’s difficult to describe… haunting? pretty? captivating, to be sure.

there’s a deep and wide extra-serving of wonderful female vocal alt-something-or-other music being released these days, between fiest and st. vincent, and the next up on “ysmarko’s recommended music,” kendall payne. dig it.