St. Vincent Influenced By The National

If life is essentially performance, we're all actors.

Annie Clark explores the relationships between the internal and external portrayals of self on her latest St. Vincent album, aptly titled Actor.

"I think the thing I was most concert with in the narrative of this record is the idea of storytelling juxtaposed with images," says Clark, calling from a Toronto hotel room. "I want to allow the audience to make a link as opposed to beating them over the head with the literal narrative.

"Also, I was thinking in general about David Mamet's theory of drama and how it can be boiled down to what a characters wants and what happens if they don't get it."

Rich with metaphor and myth, St. Vincent explores melody with a sense of beauty and the avant-guarde with twinkling instrumentation and creative zeal.

Clark hails from Oklahoma and found herself Brooklyn, N.Y.-bound working on her own material after learning the ropes touring with The Polyphonic Spree and in Sufjan Stevens' band.

Actor is the follow-up to 2007's widely adored Marry Me. With tall tales gorgeously woven into literary pop-songs, Clark explores narratives akin to old fairytales with modern, perhaps even sinister twists.

"A lot of the scenarios and scenes in the album revolve around the idea of character," she says. "Also, the idea of being an actor is both literarily and artistically a struggle, what a harrowing profession it must be, though in some ways music as a profession is in a sense acting, too. It's also about people's external lives verses their internal lives."

Her project's name, St. Vincent, pays homage to her great grandmother who shared the middle name.

Despite her musical background of touring and studying music, Clark believes if she wasn't a musician she's convinced she would be a professional student, maybe a history professor. She says she's a sponge for new knowledge and mindful exploration.

"Part of me feels like an adult in this career structured thing. I have a business manager. But I don't feel like an adult in the job that I get to do," she says. "It's not necessarily advantageous to become an adult. I don't want to grow up. I don't ever not want to have fun and have a mortgage and seven kids. I want a Never Never Land."

Perhaps the Peter Pan syndrome isn't quite as gendered as Walt Disney would lead us to believe. Clark attributes her love of language, books and narratives to her parents' encouragement, though in recent years writers Phillip Ross, Charles Bukowski and songwriter Matt Berninger of The National inspire her most.

"I'm a big fan of The National. I'm lucky enough that we're friends and get to work together," she says. "I remember having this conversation with Matt about lyric writing when I was sitting down to write. I would pour over The National lyrics and go, 'Wow, damn, Matt's the biggest influence for me on this record."'

St. Vincent will play these dates:

Aug. 15 St-Malo, France @ La Route Du Rock Festival
Aug. 30 Columbia, MD @ Merriweather Post Pavilion
Sept. 29 Indianapolis, IN @ The Murat Theatre
Sept. 30 Columbia, MO @ The Blue Note
Oct. 1 St. Louis, MO @ Firebird
Oct. 3 New Orleans, LA @ Tipitina's
Oct. 5 Birmingham, AL @ Workplay Soundstage
Oct. 7-8 Carraboro, NC @ Cat's Cradle
Oct. 9 Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel
Oct. 10 Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium
Oct. 12 Charleston, SC @ Music Farm
Oct. 13 Knoxville, TN @ Bijou Theatre
Oct. 14 Cincinnati, OH @ Bogart's
Oct. 16 Madison, WI @ High Noon Saloon
Oct. 17 Milkwaukee, WI @ Pabst Theater
Oct. 18 Kalamazoo, MI @ The State Theatre
Oct. 19 Columbus, OH @ Souther Theatre
Oct. 20 Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
Oct. 21 Buffalo, NY Ashbury Hall
Oct. 22 Ithaca, NY @ Castaways
Oct. 24 South Portland, ME @ South Portland High School
Oct. 25 Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
Oct. 26 South Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground Ballroom
Oct. 27 Providence, RI @ Lupo's Heartbreak Hotel
Oct. 28 Washington, DC @ Nightclub 9:30
Oct. 31 London, UK @ Barbican Centre
Nov. 1 Dublin, Ireland @ Vicar Street
Nov. 2 Glasgow, Scotland @ ABC
Nov. 4 Manchester, England @ Cathedral
Nov. 5 Leeds, England @ Leeds Metropolitan University
Nov. 6 Bristol, England @ Ansom Rooms
Nov. 8 Brussels, Belgium @ Cirque Royal
Nov. 9 Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Melkweg
Nov. 10 Hamburg, Germany @ Grunspan
Nov. 11 Berlin, Germany @ Postbahnhof
Nov. 12 Munchen, Germany @ Theaterfabrik
Nov. 15 Fribourg, Switzerland @ Fris-Son
Nov. 16 Vienna, Switzerland @ Wuk
Nov. 17 Basel, Switzerland @ Volkshaus
Nov. 19 Cologne, Germany @ Kulturkirche
Nov. 20 Den Gaag, Holland @ Crossing Border Festival
Nov. 21 Paris, France @ La Cigale
Nov. 22 Katowice, Poland @ Clup Hipnoza
Nov. 24 Copenhagen, Denmark @ Vega