The art of seduction and the thrill of the chase go hand in hand and tonight. St. Vincent is stood between them both, skipping merrily along, as her Fear The Future tour kicks off at London’s Brixton Academy.
From the off, it’s not what you’ve come to expect from Annie Clark, which is exactly the point. Appearing stage right, the cheers ring out before she’s lit by spotlight and launches into ‘Marry Me’.
What follows is a chronological set of greatest hits. Moving with a purpose about the stage, Annie shows off each chapter as she takes the room by the hand and leads them towards the second half wonder of ‘MASSEDUCTION’ in its full, mighty brilliance. For this she remains in one spot, having found what she was looking for. For now, anyway.
There are few albums that work live front to back. Fewer still that have that power less than a week after release. Already ‘MASSEDUCTION’ is showing off, wriggling, ripping and bounding with a sense of glory and accomplishment. ‘Pills’ pops with a carefree escape then doubles back to find golden threads. ‘Los Ageless’ vibrates with energetic wonder before the delicate, biting ‘Happy Birthday, Johnny’ and the slow dance lament of ‘New York’, all soft edges and hard loss. Already each song, from the roaring ‘Fear The Future’ to a careful ‘Slow Disco’ have their own shape and personality. Annie lets each one scream and take ownership of the space.
Gone is the digital nightmare of the self-titled album, deconstructed and sparking, replaced by rich purples, hot pink and sparkling space. The stage is deliberately bare, the songs decorated with sad truths, fragile hope and unwavering momentum, sure of the direction but not the destination. ‘MASSEDUCTION’ is St. Vincent’s confidence delivered without a front. Tonight, that belief stands alone on the stage. Annie holds the attention of the room with ease and herself like a weapon. At ease toying with character, getting lost in the emotional waves and twisting the performance from the songs, her guitar gently weeps, rages and dances with agile joy and end of the world destruction. Backed by the same video skits that have trailed the release of ‘MASSEDUCTION’, the title track sees a cake in the shape of a phone dialled, teased and pulled apart. ‘Smoking Section’ finds her kicking the leaves of her own destruction while ‘Young Lover’ accelerates to hyper-speed. Every edge sharpened to a fierce point.
It would be all too easy to get lost the serious, but her sense of humour shines through, from the ski-mask clad crew handing her guitars and microphone stands, to the curtain closing on ‘Birth In Reverse’, wild and sprawling outro still in full flight. There’s even a little chair to the side of stage whose only purpose seems to be for us to wonder why there’s a little chair side of stage. As Annie sings “this isn’t the end” at the end of the show, you can almost see her mouth struggling to contain a grin. It’s the same wicked game that sees her small, carefree laugh in ‘Digital Witness’ ripple about Brixton with such infectious energy. We’re all in on the joke. We’re all on the level.
Tonight everything, as always with St. Vincent, is done with a purpose. The bright, shiny world of her new album is slowly expanding, but more than performance art to be picked apart and dissected, it’s quickly becoming clear that this is a record to both consume and be consumed by. It’s smart, but goes for heart over head. Led by the gut, it’s a record that feels before it thinks. This is just the start of ‘MASSEDUCTION’, but we’re already head over heels.
Photos: Sarah Louise Bennett