Media Maven’s Music Wedensday – “Your Lips Are Red” by St. Vincent

Hello friends! I write to you now from cloudy, rainy, wonderful Edinburgh, Scotland. If you don’t remember, I’m over here for the next 3 weeks performing in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the world’s largest international festival of its kind. My show, One Night Stand: An Improvised Musical, opens tonight (in previews), so I’m super excited about that. If any you readers are from around here, come check us out!

But, even though I’m opening a new show today, I couldn’t neglect the all-important Media Maven’s Music Wednesday, especially not when I’ve just heard a terrific new album that you should all know about.

This past week, St. Vincent, a.k.a. Annie Clark, released her debut solo album, Marry Me. Its off the chain, folks. A guitar-wielding member of both Sufjan Steven’s tour band and The Polyphonic Spree, Clark has been on the indie music scene for years, and one wonders why it took this obviously talented musician so long to release a solo album. Clark plays all the instruments, wrote all the sings, and sings all the vocals. This in itself is an incredible feat. Usually, when someone is talented enough to write, play and sing all the songs on their record, its a good indication that its going to be a damn good album (Ben Folds’ Rockin the Suburbs is another example).

And Clark does not disappoint. The songs are charming, wistful, complex, and highly compelling. While not every track on the album is a winner, most are, and the sound is highly original. My favorite track on the album, upon my first listen, was easily “My Lips Are Red,” the track I’d like to share with you today. The song’s energy is palpable, with the build and final expulsion of energy in the song’s final third providing for a most engaging musical experience. The cacophonous layers of sound throughout, with the synth, violins, guitars, piano and hi-hat providing most of the color, blend so well together, despite their obvious dissonance. It’s a very unique song, with a unique feel and energy, an awesome vocal line, and one of the coolest builds in a song I know.

Please enjoy this song, go get the album (you can download it for free here), and leave some comments!

“Your Lips Are Red” by St. Vincent (click the link, then click the name of the song to download the file in the new window)