Annie Clark, a.k.a. St. Vincent, used to be affiliated with The Polyphonic Spree, which might suggest pop music of a peculiarly sunny and charged sort. But St. Vincent eschews bombast for something that leans closer to Kate Bush, David Bowie, and Dirty Projectors. She put out a strong debut, Marry Me, in 2007, but her 2009 album Actor is considerably better, full of baroque, broken-doll chamber-pop cut through with Clark’s charmingly sly wordplay.
Updated 10/09/2009