Annie Clark said that she had taken angularity as far as she could in her music, and decided to go in a completely different direction for the new album. "So much of this new record is really just things that move in and out like water and flow, and really being way more about that kind of energy than about things that are right angles and clear lines."
St. Vincent caught up with Jade recently about the new record, performing on SNL, and the conversations that happen between performers on-stage. Watch the full interview below.
Interview Highlights
I was watching a video [of your SNL performance] and it must have been a behind-the-scenes thing with you and the band getting ready and getting pumped up for the performance. As someone who is so desperate to be back and see live music, I can only imagine what it was like for you to be back on stage and performing. So I was hoping that you could kind of describe that feeling, that energy that you had.
Well first of all, in getting to put this new band together, by the time we hit SNL, we'd been a band for about eight days. So, that shows you how pro everybody was. But getting to be back in a rehearsal room with people and hearing them sing, and hearing them play--it was like a phantom limb, magically reappeared. They're really the best. Then actually, the performance--there's not an analogue in daily life that scratches that itch, you know? So actually getting to do that--feel the energy of like, "3, 2, 1.." The rush and the thrill of the just being in the moment and the crowd, it was thrilling and it made me want to just--why can't I just be on tour right now?
Why can't we all just be on tour right now going to live shows? There is something about that live performance, and you're such a wonderful live performer. The visual aspect is so huge, I was actually really struck by the visuals of this performance, which kudos to you guys for pulling that together for eight days being in a band. There was this really beautiful softness to everything in the performance. The fur coat that you were wearing, and your backing vocalist--everything just had this softness and warmth. It was really different from your last tour, which to me was really like sharp edges, and there was this starkness on the stage. It brought to mind this interview that I had heard with you where you said you had taken angular as far as you could go, and I was really hoping that you could expand on that a little bit.
So much of this new record is 'things that are wiggly' is the only way to explain it, but really just things that move in and out like water and flow and really being way more about that kind of energy than about things that are right angles and clear lines. The music that I was really referencing and really digging into was the music from the early 70s, New York. '71 to '76 where rock and jazz and fusion and all this stuff kind of merged. It was really harmonica sophisticated, but so musical and it was just that kind of vibe. I keep using words like vibe and flow.
It's very 70s.
Very 70s, but it's true, that music had a whole lot to teach me and I've loved it for so long, but I've never really gone there and I learned a lot. The other thing about the performance aspect of the record is, with those singers, and writing parts for the singers like I did on the record--I wanted that to be like--that's a conversation. It's not background singers. It's a real time conversation. I wanted to make sure that was clear with the performance. These aren't background singers hiding in the back making the lead singer seem more competent. It's like no, you're front and center. We're having a conversation here. You're very much a part of it and they were so great.