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music
St. Vincent Gets Naked On Stage

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Stripping down, metaphorically speaking, is good for art. Take it from St. Vincent a.k.a Annie clark. Today, the singer unveiled a rework of her critically-acclaimed 2017 masterpiece _MASSEDUCTION_, this time, with nothing more than her voice and the illustrious piano of Thomas Bartlett, better known as Doveman. This reworking follows a new seductive sequence, a reimagining of the original subsequence of _MASSEDUCTION_ with _MASSEDUCATION_. Clark feels naked. Her usual onslaught of guitars and synths are nowhere to be heard, but she tackles this obscurity head on, embracing the lucrative power of her voice and exposing herself for the sake of art. To watch this live is to take a step back into simplicity, building off of the blocks placed before her by Joni Mitchell and Carole King, Clark strides into the role of singer-songwriter. At the live preview of the album at the Belasco theatre in Downtown Los Angeles, Bartlett and Clark ran the gamut of emotional awareness: minute detail in lyrcism that was further magnified through harrowing piano orchestration. Bartlett maneuvers this nudity beautifully, crafting homage piano arrangements that compliment the raw skill of Clark’s voice while simultaneously respecting the original works of _MASSEDUCTION_. And, he isn’t afraid to experiment. The rework features muted piano, a skimpy thong on an otherwise bare body of musical aptitude. The album was recorded quickly with 2 to 3 takes given to each track without much rehearsal beforehand and with the elixir of “inebriation” to get them through it. They approach the songs through their working understanding of the other, growing, shifting and changing through the subtlest moments or vocal inflections. What was presented that night and in the finished recordings is that understanding, something that goes beyond knowing a person extremely well but possibly knowing them instinctually or sonically. * * * Written by Kyle Huewe and Jake Harrison Photographed by Jacqueline Verdugo