St Vincent

St Vincent
Royal Albert Hall

Another decidedly early-autumn day. Most of the daylight has disappeared around eight o'clock, in what has been, and continues to be, a gradual diminuendo from the First Night of the Proms.

Tonight is September 3rd, and we have St Vincent, alias of Anne Erin Clark, at the Royal Albert Hall. 'Who is St Vincent?' I ask myself. Well, she is a six-times Grammy award winning musician, who Rolling Stone have ranked as one of the greatest guitar players of all time. That's some introduction, and it doesn't stop there. We also get the 'one of the most important vocalists of the twenty-first century.' Quite the build up, but does she live up to the hype? 

In a word, no. Not for me, anyway. I do try my best but, by and large, it's not my cup of tea. I do howl, though, at the thought of the social awkwardness that would exist between St Vincent and what one might call your traditional, 'St George' promenader 🤣

My first thoughts are of Niamh Connolly, who was the Sinead O'Connor parody character in that episode of Father Ted. [I have no doubt that St Vincent is a completely different animal to Sinead O'Connor, but it's her nonchalant tone in her interview that is taking me here.] As for the Rolling Stone list of greatest guitar players... that's been going for years, and it changes nearly as often as I change my underpants. [which is to say daily.]

The music in general I would describe as semi-melodic, with a purposeful absence of hooks, and with unconventional structures. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy some of the music as it plays out. There's a song called Smoking Section, and the part where she repeats the words 'It's Not The End' sounds really good with the orchestra backing.

BBC Radio 3 apologies for the use of the word 'motherfucker' during the live broadcast of New York. 

The Nowhere Inn utilises a similar motif of those repeating words, and it keeps asking the question 'where are you, where are you, where are you...?' To which my mind suddenly conjures Roger Daltrey's gravelly, cockney voice - the one that famously sung 'who the fuck are you?'