Interviews with musicians are a tricky affair, and can go very wrong very quickly.
The worst case scenario eventuates when interviewers haven’t done any research, when musicians really couldn’t care less (maybe too many drugs induced), or the chat becomes borderline sexist or mean-spirited after a situation is completely misread, making things super, super awkward.
But others take it in their stride, and last weekend guitar player, singer and songwriter Annie Clark aka St. Vincent certainly saw the humour when she was subjected to what is possibly the cruelest musician interview you could think of.
Most musicians are open to talking about their musical influences, but how many of them would be willing to subject themselves to a test to see if they could identify songs from their so-called biggest influences and collaborators?
Turns out, St Vincent would be, and on the side lines of Rock En Seine festival in Paris in front of French site Sourdoreille‘s camera she took the challenge head on and came out mostly unscathed.
“This is a very cruel game you’re playing,” she says, “like allowing me 30 seconds of songs that I love. Very very cruel.”
Able to identity most of what the interviewers throw at her, St Vincent is stumped a few times like when the interviewer plays a Christmas song from Sufjan Stevens.
You can also feel the cringe when she doesn’t recognise a song by her old band Polyphonic Spree. “Oh Shit, this is from a band I played in.”
St Vincent was just in Australia as part of the Vivid LIVE 2014 lineup, to help promote her fourth album, the self-titled St. Vincent, following the celebrated recent Love This Giant collaboration with David Byrne.
“A bizarre, rambunctious record that will bring out the lunatic within you,” as our Tone Deaf reviewer called it, the album finds St. Vincent at her most assured and gripping as she meshes distorted, aggressive electric guitars and bold vocal and synthesizer arrangements on top of a relentless rhythm section.
