St. Vincent has already appeared on a “Twilight” soundtrack, but her newest video has me thinking about a different bit of American pop culture rubble.
“Cruel,” more specifically, could be what “Mad Men” character Betty Draper has going on in her head: beautiful, morose, macabre deterioration, where everybody’s out to get her. And ultimately she’s dead inside. But stunning to the end, of course.
I generally only have one foot on the St. Vincent Train, mostly because I find her to be an inventive and entertaining guitarist. Vocally, she spans between angelic and sleep-aid. But her 2009 album “Actor” didn’t get a free pass just because she’s so goddamn pretty; “Cruel” may be closer to a pop song, but it certainly is part of her steady growth.
Hopefully, there’s more of it on St. Vincent’s forthcoming studio set, “Strange Mercy,” due Sept. 13. It’s a collaboration with producer John Congleton, who frequently and delicately freaks me out with his own band Paper Chase. Another song “Surgeon” has already arrived.
St. Vincent plays a one-off on the roof of the MoMA in New York, and good luck with that considering the rain. Then she tours in October, dates below.
Here are St. Vincent’s tour dates:
08-25 New York, NY – Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
10-02 Minneapolis, MN – McGuire Theatre
10-03 Milwaukee, WI – Pabst Theater
10-05 Chicago, IL – Metro
10-06 St. Louis, MO – Old Rock House
10-07 Lawrence, KS – Liberty Hall
10-08 Boulder, CO – Boulder Theater
10-10 Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge
10-12 Vancouver, British Columbia – Commodore Ballroom
10-13 Seattle, WA – Neptune Theatre
10-14 Portland, OR – Crystal Ballroom
10-18 Los Angeles, CA – Music Box
10-20 Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom
10-23 Dallas, TX – Kessler Theater
10-24 Austin, TX – Moody Theater at ACL Live
10-25 Houston, TX – Fitzgerald’s
10-26 New Orleans, LA – TBA
10-28 Atlanta, GA – The Earl
10-30 Charlottesville, VA – Jefferson Theater
11-01 Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
11-02 Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer
11-03 New York, NY – Webster Hall
11-04 Boston, MA – Royale