Annie Clark of St Vincent looks confusingly through the lens of a camera she’s just swiped off a unexpected press member, casually chucking the digital machine back to him she continues her robotic chorography, later reminiscing with the crowd about burning down your neighbour through childhood curiosities, followed by spitting out electronic glitching sounds from her guitar and finishing off with a trip to the front row of fans whilst propped on a security guard’s shoulders. This is the world of St Vincent at The Roundhouse.
After an electronic speech generated introduction, advising viewers to refrain from digitalising their experience during the performance, Annie takes the stage with her synth conductor Toko Yasuda, Daniel Mintseris and Matt Johnson on acoustic drums; they plunge into opening with the electrifying sounds of ‘Rattlesnake’ followed by the sky-rocketing ‘Digital Witness’. Mesmerising and hypnotic, her robotic movements render her performance as almost alien-esque. Reminiscent of the qualities of the Martian girl in the film ‘Mars Attacks!’, Annie proceeds around the stage in a spaced out surreal stride.
In the good company of fellow “freaks and others of London Town” the set list is interspersed with comical thoughts and dark musings of mundane life from a smiling Annie. She transforms the Roundhouse into a nucleus of otherworldly chaos with grace, retreating to the top of her pink pyramid throne to sing ‘Cheerleader’ followed by ‘Prince Johnny’, in which she finishes with her signature tumble down each step until assuming an upside-down cross position gazing at the audience intriguingly.
The eruptive ‘Krokodil’ throws Annie into a robotic malfunctioning display, her platinum violet hair in full head banging motion before she seeps into the crowd, playfully allowing the audience to participate in a group play on her guitar. She finishes the show statuesque balancing on a thin metal barrier in front of the roaring crowd at The Roundhouse, looking ever more the ‘near future cult leader’ St Vincent truly is.
