Her early April Los Angeles show in support of her new album, Actor, was not going as planned, and doors to the Masonic Lodge at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery were now 25 minutes from opening. Yet spend a little time with Clark, who records under the name St. Vincent, and it becomes apparent that she's not the type to panic over such details -- she views the world through a more fanciful lens.
She uses one word repeatedly when discussing music: magic. The energy of New York, where the Texas-raised artist lives? Magic. Disney's classical-inspired score to “Sleeping Beauty," which inspired many of the sounds on Actor? Magic. And discovering a melody that works? “Oh, that's magic."
Actor, released on May 5, presents an expansive array of digitally constructed symphonic sounds, where fantastic strings, backward guitars and dizzying harmonies are paired with sometimes vivid, merciless lyrics -- a vision of reality that's split between a fairy tale and a David Mamet play.
The album won the support of National Public Radio, which streamed Actor two weeks before it was released, and Clark is set to appear on the “Late Show With David Letterman" on June 24, roughly one month after returning to Los Angeles for a performance Thursday at the El Rey Theatre.
Clark has a history with fantasy. When she was 17, she was asked to compose original music for her high school's rendition of “Alice in Wonderland." It impressed her parents, who had allowed her to spend summer vacation touring the world with her aunt and uncle, the jazz duo Tuck & Patti.
Recalled Clark, “My parents heard the play and said, 'This is really good. We didn't know what you'd been doing in there.' I didn't really share much. They called my aunt and uncle and said I had some promise, and they suggested I go to music school. It was nice to have this consensus. It was more than it just being cute -- 'Oh, you play soccer and you play guitar.' “
She spent three years at the Berklee College of Music before heading to New York to pursue her career, but after working a string of low-paying jobs, she opted to move back in with her parents in Dallas. Clark had better luck at home. She was drafted to be a part of dozen-plus member pop collective the Polyphonic Spree and began making the musical connections that would land her with independent record label 4AD.
