David Byrne & St. Vincent | Who (Video)

The duo of former Talking Heads singer David Byrne and Annie Clark of St. Vincent have released a new black-and-white video for the song, “Who”, from off their collaborative record “Love this Giant”. If there’s one thing I like better than St. Vincent, it’s Byrne doing a dance-shimmy down a rural road to a funky, jazzed-out track: “Who’ll be my valentine? / Who’ll lift this head of yours? / Who’ll share this tax-cab / Who wants to climb aboard?” Note: Image is a screen capture from the video. – David D. Robbins Jr.

David Byrne and St. Vincent | Weekend In the Dust

You can stream the newest song by the collaborative duo of David Byrne and St. Vincent, “Weekend In the Dust”, at the official website for their upcoming record, “Love This Giant”. This follows a previously released stream for the jazzy-electronic album opener, “Who”. It’s also available for download once you pre-order the record, officially due out September. You can pre-order three different packages: digital only or digital and vinyl or digital and CD. – David D. Robbins Jr.

ST. VINCENT | Cheerleader (Video)

St. Vincent’s Annie Clark has a new video out for “Cheerleader”, a song off her 2011 record “Strange Mercy”, named one of Their Bated Breath’s Top 15 Albums of the year. “Strange Mercy” is just one stage in the continuing evolution of St. Vincent. At its most visionary moments, it’s luxuriating, flaunting, extravagant, lush, strange, and passionate. Watch the video above, featuring a gigantic Ron Mueck-ized Annie Clark, existing as artwork and mannequin. For those of you that read my feature piece on St. Vincent, this video is another example of the artist’s obsession with anatomical listing, as parts of her fall to the floor and break into pieces. The song itself is also about breaking out of a prescribed mode. Read a full-length review of “Strange Mercy” here, a Top 10 list of best live moments for St. Vincent, and any other posts from TBB about the band here. St. Vincent has also provided a Google link to stream “Strange Mercy” and download a free copy of “Cheerleader” here. Video directed by Hiro Murai. -- David D. Robbins Jr.

ST. VINCENT | Live on MTV Hive

Today you can watch a live stream of St. Vincent’s concert at Webster Hall in New York City via the website MTV Hive. It’s part of its NYC Series and begins at 9 p.m. U.S. ET. St. Vincent will perform songs from her newest LP, “Strange Mercy”, along with songs from her previous records. Read an archived Their Bated Breath review of Strange Mercy here, my selections for the best five live St. Vincent videos online, and a feature-length essay called “A Savage Beauty”, written last year, about the career of Annie Clark. – David D. Robbins Jr.

ST. VINCENT | Best Live Videos

St. Vincent just released her newest album, “Strange Mercy”, which means newer videos are being posted as Annie Clark plays more live shows featuring the new material. There was the Metropolitan Museum of Art show in New York, the Spin Magazine solo set, the show at Space 15 Twenty, and now KCRW put up a live video of “Cruel”, with the entire concert scheduled to be posted on October 6th. You can see the video by clicking on the image above. There are also four more online videos of my favorite live performances of St. Vincent. Each one leaves an indelible mark, and many thanks go out to those videographers out there who come up with the goods. – David D. Robbins Jr.

ST. VINCENT | Strange Mercy

By David D. Robbins Jr. | Their Bated Breath
Album: St. Vincent “Strange Mercy” (2011)
Release date: Sept 13

The strength of Annie Clark’s music, from 2003′s “Ratsliveonnoevilstar” to her newest release as St. Vincent, “Strange Mercy” (2011), rests largely on one thing: Her ability to combine strange and harsh elements with beautiful ones. On “Marry Me” (2007) and “Actor” (2009), she blended Disney-like flutes, melodic and sensually conscious arrangements, with abrasive guitar and ambiguity. What makes St. Vincent’s music so intriguing is that much of it is always fighting itself. The dazzlingly pretty parts are tempered by Clark’s endless creativity for harmonic discord. She scuffed-up the luxurious cinematic landscape of “Marrow” with odd lyricism, cataloging body parts like a medical student, connecting them to human actions, then ending the opening verses with a clever allusion to sex and the Tin-Man in the “Wizard of Oz”: “Muscle connects to the bone / Bone to the ire and the marrow / I wish I had a gentle mind / And a spine made up of iron / Mouth connects to the teeth / Teeth to the loves and the curses / Honey, can you reach the spot that need oiling and fixing?”

ST. VINCENT | Cruel (Video)

It’s a busy day in the world of St. Vincent. She posted a new video for the song “Cruel”, which will be featured on her upcoming release, “Strange Mercy”, out on September 13th. The video was directed by Terri Timely, who also created videos for “Actor Out of Work” and “Marrow”. Today St. Vincent is also scheduled to perform on the rooftop of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. (Update: Due to rain, St. Vincent’s show tonight at the Metropolitan will move inside the museum to the Temple of Dendur.) — David D. Robbins Jr.

ST. VINCENT | Surgeon

After a couple of days of Twitter fun, St. Vincent (aka Annie Clark) released her new single, ‘Surgeon,’ available as a free download here. It’s the fourth track off her upcoming 11-song release “Strange Mercy” — due out on Sept. 13 via 4AD. Clark had asked fans to tweet hashtag “#strangemercy” in order to unlock four film vignettes created by Alan Ortiz and eventually an MP3 from off the new album. Well, it was well worth the wait. The videos featured an odd array of teasers: Two dealt with telling the truth in a relationship (w/ a boyfriend or best friend), one was about how cats and other animals will eat their young if they’re sick, and the last video was about a child’s potential from birth — with the creepy insinuation that all may not go so well in life. All the while, “Surgeon” was playing in the background of each, the opening line clearly heard: “I spent the summer on my back …” The new track itself is a stunning oddity, the first half elegant and unfolding with hints of that smoky “Landmines” entrance, and the sweeping cinematic strings of “Actor” (with an Asian bent) — even delving into the body-part obsessions of “Marrow” — the refrain begging: “Best finest surgeon, come cut me open.” By song’s end, the sounds splay into delirious polyphony — hectic, funky keyboard grooves and deep bass combine with bursts of sax-synth, an ever-quickening pace and Annie’s pleading vocals. For St. Vincent fans, this is just what the doctor ordered. Note: Here’s a Their Bated Breath feature-length piece on Annie Clark’s music dating back to her college days.  – David D. Robbins Jr.

St. Vincent “Surgeon”