The latest in a cavalcade of American artists dropping by our sleepy little backwater town, St. Vincent played a set on Saturday night at YuYinTang as part of the JUE Festival.  Accompanied by violinist/guitarist Daniel Hart, a dizzying array of pedals, and a handful of backing tracks, St. Vincent played a tight set of songs from her albums Marry Me and the latest, Actor.

To open the show, Boys Climbing Ropes came out rocked the place, firing off seven songs to get the crowd going.  I have not seen them before (I know, I know, where have I been hiding?) but these guys have some catchy songs and the energy to rouse the masses.  I especially liked their collective stage presence.  The bassists, guitarist, and drummer have a wild, frenetic style.  The lead singer stood planted center stage in some traffic-stopping neon tights, hands firmly on hips, eyes closed, and howled her way through the lyrics.

St. Vincent came on shortly after, and made it very clear throughout the set that she thinks Shanghai and her tour and everyone in the audience was “awesome.”  I would like to reciprocate the compliment.  St. Vincent is essentially Annie Clark, a 27 year old guitarist/singer/songwriter and whoever happens to be accompanying her.  Clark and Hart fleshed out songs in intricate detail with the use of loops and sample sounds, and most of the songs began as simple melodies and ended up as huge arrangements with dozens of parts layered on top of each other. Most of the set followed this pattern, which made St. Vincent’s solo encore (solo as in, guitar and voice without additional looping or sounds), ‘Paris is Burning’, an interesting and affecting end to the show.

St. Vincent has musical chops to spare. Annie Clark is from Texas, and started playing guitar at 12, and writing and recording songs at just 13.  Ms. Clark began her career as a guitarist in her early teens, touring with her aunt and uncle in a jazz band. After studying music for three years at the famous Berklee College of Music, she played guitar with the Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens.  In 2007, St. Vincent released her debut album Marry Me (the title is a playful reference to the cult sitcom Arrested Development).  On top of being a phenomenal guitarist, Ms. Clark has a lovely, jazzy vocal style that compliments her songs.  Her singing voice, which can veer towards Disney Princess territory, makes a great counterpoint to some the darker imagery that comes up in songs like “Laughing with a Mouth of Blood” and “Marrow”.

St. Vincent has stated that she composed her album Actor purely on the computer, and only after writing did she come back to arrange the songs for a band.  The songs reflect their theoretical origins in their intricacy and precision, and it was extremely impressive to hear Clark and Hart work together to create such deep arrangements.  At times, due to the complexity and the many layers of sounds that create the songs, St. Vincent’s set leaned towards more of a cerebral examination of sonic textures than just a  regular rock show.  It’s the kind of music that requires some serious listening.

During the set, some of my favorite moments came when Annie Clark took a little breathing space in the arrangements.  Annie rocked back slightly, closed her eyes, clenched her jaw, and proceeded to shred.