St Vincent review: Pop oddity dazzles as new songs lurch towards mainstream

Annie Clark's alter-ego stuns Brixton Academy with tracks from new album Masseduction
Sweet St Vincent: The Masseduction star stuns the Brixton Academy crowd
Dave Benett
Elizabeth Aubrey20 November 2017

​If Annie Clark’s latest album Masseduction has taught us anything, it’s that her alter-ego St Vincent doesn’t do things conventionally — especially now she’s swapped innocuous electro-indie for glammy, in-your-face art-pop.

Last night was no ordinary gig: a surrealist short directed by Clark was her oddball “support act”, a greatest hits set followed and a full airing of the 13 songs from Masseduction closed.

After we’d watched her take on Pinter’s The Birthday Party, Clark launched into a thorough career retrospective, starting with the touching Marry Me and ending with the crunchy guitars of crowd favourite Birth In Reverse.

Yet it was a strange, slightly disconnected opening. Clark didn’t really interact, nor did she make it easy for people to see her as she peeked from behind half-opened curtains and stood at awkward angles on the periphery of the stage. At times, things felt overly clinical and polished, artist and audience too isolated.

After a short interval, the muffled, fuzzy synths on devastating Masseduction break-up song Hang On Me sounded, Clark’s much-publicised split from Cara Delevingne ever-present.

Opening the second part, Clark moved centre stage, perched on a podium with just her guitar. There was no live band, but it wasn’t missed — Clark’s dazzling voice and accomplished guitar noodling provided more than enough entertainment.

Highlights included the frenetic, crazed pop of Pills, emotional ballads New York and Happy Birthday, Johnny and Los Ageless, the album’s strongest track.

The throbbing Moroder-like drones of Sugarboy and Fear The Future’s LCD Soundsystem-inspired disco beats both thrilled. The influence of Taylor Swift and Lorde producer Jack Antonoff was unmistakeable.

If the second half felt more cohesive and all the more successful for it, it was because Masseduction is easily the highlight of Clark’s career, light years beyond even the strongest moments in her back catalogue.

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