St Vincent + Wildbirds and Peacedrums - Doug Fir Lounge (Portland, OR; Feb. 6, 2010)

Adorned in a black shirt with puffy sleeves and a guitar strapped high, it was unclear if St. Vincent herself was going to be swallowed up by her surroundings. The typical indie-rock paradox would have Annie Clark slice through the environs with a single vocal slash to leave no doubt as to who was queen. But St. Vincent plays with opposites the way a toddler does with applesauce; she owns a far more delicate voice, ever teetering on the edge of self-determined rhythm and tune. Indeed, her slight frame initially betrays the gravity of her lyrics; her unruly black curls dare you to doubt the highly calculated cacophony.

In what should be a more common practice, St. Vincent and her band (and Wildbirds and Peacedrums) were kind enough to perform a double header: an all ages show and a later, elders only gig. This second gig found all musicians in top form. Swedish openers Wildbirds and Peacedrums were a delightfully quirky palate-cleaner for the main event. Lovely harmonies abounded with St. Vincent and the band trading among clarinets, violins, saxophones, drums, vocal loops, keyboards, and tambourines. Most of the set list was from Actor: “The Party” and “The Strangers” showed up, and a gritty ass-shaking rendition of “Marrow.” No one can really argue that the music wasn’t well crafted, but what surprised me was that amongst all these wonderful sounds, it was Annie’s vocals that often felt a bit lost and out of place. As Trusty Sidekick put it, “the singing is the weakest link.” And with such sweet sounds and distortions, her chick-a-dee like voice struggled on the louder moments to hold its own.

We were treated to gentler moments, where both voice and creativity shown, like “Jesus Saves, I Spend.” Her candor with the audience was eaten up; her spunky, cheery attitude when chatting eliminated all pretenses. She was honest enough to admit she treated the all ages family-friendly show to an in-depth analysis of Ice Cube’s “Today was a Good Day.” Those that have seen Ani DiFranco in concert would have been delighted at her asides, banter with the audience, and excitement and gratitude to perform.

Why no one has asked St Vincent to score some movies is a felony. And I’m not counting her contribution to New Moon. She could be scoring some moody, meaty stuff like Moon. The balance of smooth and rough, calm and chaos made the night a sort of unbelievably luscious dream. If I hadn’t known better, I would have thoughtI could start flying.

DOWNLOAD: St. Vincent - Jesus Saves. I Spend (Live in Denton, TX) (MP3) or Follow us for more St. Vincent MP3s (Twitter)

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