It's the second time St Vincent's Annie Clark has undergone one of our Q&as this year. First time we marked the release of her third album Strange Mercy and here is she is again the record came in at Number 8 in our Top 50 Albums of 2011 poll. Enjoy an extended version of the interview that appears in our current issue Q306, which is on sale now.
Hi Annie, you've made Q's albums of 2011. How do you feel?
"Surprised! I'm on Nyquil and Dayquil... But I'm in Phoenix. People tough it out here."
How are you going to celebrate?
"I am sitting in a hotel on a sundeck - which is the last place anyone wants to be cos it's 100 degrees - with the smell of Marlboro Lights and Bacardia Sea Breezes in the air from last night's revelry and I'm sweating through my clothes. That is a party where I come from."
Strange Mercy has had universal acclaim...
"I'm incredibly grateful. It feels like I've won people over one record at a time."
Has it changed you?
"No. I'm actually better adjusted."
What inspired the album?
"I dunno... everything. That's such a fucking boring answer."
Q heard Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation was important...
"I love that record. That was all I listened to. When you've been in the studio for 12 hours, your ears only have space for things that are upbeat and don't demand much. That's the one I'd go back to. And Scott Walker."
Are you a pop junkie?
Yeah. I'm a child of the '80s.
How did your songs develop?
"It was me and the guitar. The premise of the last record was, Don't touch a real instrument until you get into the studio. Here I wanted to start with something tactile. To me it was counterintuitive to write songs in that troubadour fashion."
Had you got distracted writing on a computer?
"Yeah, I'm inundated with the distraction of a blinking light and a shot of dopamine into the brain. That sense of, I should check my e-mail. I struggled."
The lyric "it's going to be a champagne year" suggests you had a premonition about the album's success...
"If everyone had a recipe for success everybody would do it. I had no idea. I hoped people would let it into their lives in whatever way they thought fit. But that wasn't, Hey we've got a winner!"
Strange Mercy is a cocktail of moods. How would you describe it?
"[Confused] What kind of cocktail do I want? I don't like anything sweet. I think it's funny how people are like, These are girly drinks. And it's 7Up and Kahlua. That sounds disgusting. But I don't know many girls who are like, I really want this sugarbomb with some Schnapps in it."
No, no, how would you describe the album's mood?
"You know that archetype of the '50s/'60s housewife who was prescribed Barbiturates when she went to the doctor with a slight headache? Strange Mercy is like a white wine with a Fenobarbital."
Ok...
"...But that's not a good idea [laughing]. It's OK... I don't think they make Fenobarbital now..."
Eve Barlow @Eve_Barlow
11:00 AM | 07/12/2011
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