Recap St. Vincent at Pabst Theater

If you spend most of your waking hours online, you’ve probably heard a thing or two about St. Vincent, the nom de plume of songwriter and guitarist Annie Clark. St. Vincent has been garnering a veritable ton of hype as of late, thanks in part to the excellent new album Strange Mercy. And judging from Clark and company’s epically awesome show Monday night at the Pabst Theater, the deafening buzz is certainly warranted. A little more wouldn’t hurt, either.

Clark cuts a deliciously strange figure onstage. Wide-eyed and alien-looking, her appearance is almost as odd as her off-balance songs and herky-jerk stage mannerisms. Opening with Strange Mercy’s “Cruel” and “Cheerleader,” Clark and her dapper three-piece band—one drummer and two synth-slingers—continually dished out surprisingly muscular readings of St. Vincent’s sometimes bare-bones songs. “Actor Out Of Work” benefited from the upgrade, while Strange Mercy highlight “Dilettante” absolutely killed. As a rule, Clark’s songs were short, and almost always ended in a flurry of glitchy, discordant guitar freak-outs. Indeed, it felt good to cheer on some good, old-fashioned axe shredding for a change.

In keeping with recent trends, plenty of stupid shit was shouted from the audience between songs, ranging from “I love you!” to “This is my favorite concert of the year!” Clark thankfully handled the running commentary with grace, likening it to a real-time Twitter feed. It was one of the rare moments she let her guard down (she also expressed excitement over the return of Arrested Development); instead, she let her gonzo guitar skills do the talking, as evidenced by a positively apocalyptic cover of The Pop Group’s “She Is Beyond Good And Evil.”

Just as impressive as Clark’s guitar work was her voice. Rich and multi-faceted, it soared and swooped when needed, and blended seamlessly with the synth in “Chloe In The Afternoon.” An encore performance of “The Party” was especially lovely, and the rowdy closer “Your Lips Are Red” nicely summed up a night of defiant energy from Clark’s guitar and throat alike.

Accompanied only by a muted electric guitar and a thick Welsh accent, opener Cate Le Bon lived up to her frequent comparisons to Nico, but also betrayed a debt to Girly Sound-era Liz Phair. But her voice was clearly the star of her set: “Can you understand me?” she asked early on. “Good. They couldn’t understand me in Minnesota.”