St. Vincent Dazzles Calgary Folk Festival-Goers With Technical Wizardry

Posted on Jul 27th 2010 12:15PM by Jonathan Dekel
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Andrew H. Walker, Getty Images

Indie sovereign St. Vincent (aka Annie Clark) took the stage at the Calgary Folk Festival Sunday night for one of the biggest shows of her career. Playing to a sold-out crowd as the undercard to headliner Roberta Flack, Clark performed with the grace and self-assurance of a seasoned pro.

The New York-based Clark focused almost exclusively on songs from her latest album, 'Actor,' whipping up a mighty storm of guitar pedal theatrics and technical wizardry, and dazzling a crowd that had spent much of its day either dancing to African grooves or pumping their fists to eastern Canadian fiddle music.

Taking a page from headliner Roberta Flack's book -- the soul legend has a Beatles covers album in the pipeline -- Clark pulled out her customary cover of 'Dig a Pony,' stretching out the song's punchy verses and alternating between screams and whispers.

A quick glance at the audience made it clear that many didn't quite get the cacophonous musicianship Clark unleashed intermittently during her well-crafted songs. But as a testament to their commitment to the festival and its philosophy of open-mindedness, everyone stayed in their place and gave a respectably loud cheer at the end of her set.