48 Hills music critic John-Paul Shiver is reporting this week from the Noise Pop Festival. Follow all his coverage here.
On Sunday evening, San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral held St. Vincent’s Noise Pop headlining performance in holy resolve. Its carved Gothic vaults were bathed in blood-red and stark white light, reflected in the faces of those seated in the pews, the hues complementing each musical move from the 42-year-old indie rock maverick; performatively quirky and unquestionably heartfelt. The artist otherwise known as Annie Clark fittingly shouted out “San Francisco, that shiny city on the hill.”
Known for stirring up a magical guitar-led brew that ranges from pop to unclassified, Clark delivers rock in a heady, experimental, no rules attached, yet accessible form. But on this night, the performer focussed more on tone than metrics; she harnessed all the gathedral elements in sway to her illuminated persona. Even the unplugged church organ, ensconced in the choir section where some lucky viewers (including this critic) were seated, seemed to look on in jealous awe.
The show was more of an unplugged session than big rock gig, with Clark managing to fill the vast space with intimacy and warm stories, respecting the audience’s intelligence and time with a veteran performance and a non-industry vibe.
With an understated “Hello, San Francisco” they kicked off the show with a barebones “Hell Is Near,” accompanied by keyboardist Rachel Eckroth on grand piano, which immediately quieted the anxious crowd with its adagio rhythm. The keys lumbered around, finding all the nooks and hidden crevices in the venue, to return to our ears with refracted sound. Adding a couple of reverberant seconds to each riff.
Throughout the show, waves of applause ebbed and flowed, rolling from the front to back of the cavernous cathedral like an ocean roiling under a blood-red moon.
In media terms, it’s been a St. Vincent welcome parade for the past month—they won three Grammy Awards on February 2 and performed at the SNL 50 “Homecoming Concert” a week later. But those appearances felt stuffy. Forced, if you will. This show had connection.
While expressing gratitude to their San Francisco aunt and uncle, the renowned jazz duo Tuck and Patti, who flew them out to the Bay Area at a young age, St. Vincent reminisced about their local experiences. They described strolling down Haight Street, visiting Amoeba Music, buying a Replacements T-shirt, and sharing a laugh with a young cashier about forming a band. Also harking back to earlier times, they performed “Slow Disco,” whose Lynchian vibe and sexy groove they’ve fully embraced today.
Listen. I can’t claim a long relationship with this artist like 90 percent of the attendees at this festival-headlining show. But that Daddy’s Home record made me blink. Give Clark a second listen. Underneath all the faux or real New York sleaze—the Steely Dan nods and the mid-’70s Stevie Wonder patina or, at its most obvious, a successful Bowie turn—St. Vincent has ideas, chords, guts to make such a swing, and for that I became a fan. Late.
It’s St. Vincent’s persona (there are some Kate Bush experimentation energies in there somewhere, too, I think) that has taken the indie rock world by its post-grunge, post-punk, post-rock, and electronic-industrial leanings and evolved it into the next stage. Continuing a trend along with Oakland-born Melina Duterte aka Jaysom, Vagabon, Japanese Breakfast, Mitski, and a vast multi-generation of others that’s seeing women taking over the once white male-dominated genre, with a predominantly multicultural, woman-centric following.
Want proof they’re doing it through transcendent talent? Here’s the show.
In the chancel of San Francisco’s own Notre Dame Cathedral, I was enamored, gobsmacked and locked in, staring up at those crimson lights. Following their movements, wholly immersed in the shapes of the stage fog as it ascended into the 90-foot rafters. This hallowed space matched Clark’s extra-spiritual qualities, giving them deity-type vibes.
THE NOISE POP FESTIVAL continues at venues throughout SF through March 2. More info here.
