When the Muse asks Annie Clark — known to most as indie artist St. Vincent — what wears her down most about life on the road, it’s the bad coffee and dirty hotel rooms all across America that resonate most deeply with her. And she’s had plenty of both. With 156 shows last year, 225 days on the road and a breakneck 14 shows in 16 days from L.A. to Boston coming up after Valentine’s Day, she’s no stranger to the rigors of touring.
“There are a couple things that are mildly demoralizing about touring,” she says. “But the thing that tempers it is that people are really sweet at shows. [It] makes all the weird mattresses and pubic hair in gross hotel rooms worth it.”
With the release of her pleasantly praised debut album Marry Me in June of last year, St. Vincent — a stage name taken from her great-grandmother’s middle name — set off across America to support the album and build her fan base. But after touring with those first songs (some of which stemmed from childhood writings) for such an enervating amount of time, Clark is looking forward to creating new material.
“I have a year and a half’s work of ideas logged,” she says. “Marry Me was a really nice start…it exceeded all the expectations I didn’t have, but it’d be kind of lame-o if I just sat back and wanted to count the money. I’m really excited to make the next thing that I’m going to be proud of.”
In addition to her next album, Clark also has a few collaborations in the works. “I’ve done some stuff with Amanda Palmer from the Dresden Dolls and it’s really creepy,” she says. “I thought I had a bit of darkness, but this brings it to the next level.”
Collaborating is a new notion for Clark, who spent the beginning of her career backing the Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens. However, this “apprenticeship” of backing work, as she calls it, has done nothing but help her shape her own craft.
“I’ve always wanted to be a solo artist,” she says. “I’ve been writing and recording songs for a long time. But I’ve also really enjoyed being a part of other people’s projects . . . Playing with Sufjan has been wonderful. I have a lot of respect for his vision and what he’s doing, and he’s become a good friend.”
Clark will return to the studio after playing her upcoming tour’s last show at the Middle East in Cambridge on March 1. For those heading to the show, she says: “I’m very excited… there will be gadgets and tricks and strobe lights and balloons and streamers.”
Extravagant promises indeed, but will she deliver?