In Hebrew school, they told us the idolization of statues was strictly prohibited. I suppose that in this day and age, this would apply to musicians who — even after seeing them live — embody a perfect figment of the listener’s imagination.
I tapped into this thought as I sat in the aisle seat on my flight back from Philadelphia, where I had traveled for the sole purpose of seeing St. Vincent and Yves Tumor in concert.
Though I don’t care too much for what Hebrew school taught me at this turbulent point in my life, I do believe that it’s odd to idolize anything or anyone, because everything and everyone contains a multitude of flaws. However, St. Vincent seems like a special case.
Performing under this alias since 2007 with the release of her debut album Marry Me, Annie Clark has, like many artists, changed styles completely from album to album. However, she has accomplished this in a way that built up her religious persona.
St. Vincent’s rich, mesmerizing voice perfectly complements her one-of-a-kind instrumentals layered with synth and bass that inundate me with a feeling I can’t totally describe. Lauded by Rolling Stone in 2023 as one of the greatest guitarists of all time, she makes a name for herself in stage presence as well.
She had emphasized the importance of coming to the stage in the most presentable manner, giving the audience what they deserve — what they paid for. From where I stood, I felt I received a return on my investment, to put it simply. When she set foot on the stage of the Met in Philadelphia in her Prada Chelsea boots, I was stunned. Though she didn’t crowd-surf on me, she got garishly close to the barricade where I stood, which suited me just fine.
When I go to a concert, I don’t want someone singing at me — I want all my senses engaged. In this day and age, artists rarely crowd surf anymore, but St. Vincent does. We don’t see crown molding as a ladder constructed to climb from the stage to the balcony, but St. Vincent has just that. Nobody has a camera crew in long black coats recording their performance, but St. Vincent does. Seldom do artists put on a show, but St. Vincent does.
While I wouldn’t go as far as to say St. Vincent is my religion, or any religion at all, she does offer her listeners a space to not only idolize her, but to love her.
