Nice little story in the New York Times Magazine this weekend: “Return Of The One-man Band”. It focuses, of course, on the single, technology-assisted performer through the workings of Final Fantasy, St. Vincent and Panda Bear.

All and all, a nice little piece, but there is one thing I take issue with: St. Vincent (Annie Clark) isn’t really a one-man (or one-woman) band. With a supremely talented group of musicians behind her live show, Clark is a fairly traditional performer (and a staggeringly good one to boot).

Sure, Clark composes her music via laptop recording, but that really isn’t new. Ever since multi-track tape machines became available, musicians have been building songs by themselves (Stevie Wonder and Prince are two terrific examples—they both played most everything, down to the drums).

Using a laptop only changes two things:

1.) It’s cheaper. You don’t have to buy tape and a whole bunch of out-board effects.

2.) There’s no waiting for the tape to rewind for each take.

…ok, there’s sequencing too…but whatever…

So yeah, I believe Clark is fairly traditional. I remember an encore she gave at the Doug Fir some months (maybe a year?) ago. Just her and her acoustic guitar in the middle of the floor, surrounded by the crowd, covering Nico’s “These Days.” No microphones. Intimate and brittle, yet strong and full of feeling. Hot damn, she killed it.

Once it’s all said and done, I think I understand why writer John Wray wanted to include Clark in his piece—he got to hang out with her. And goddamn, sure as there’s blood running through my veins, so would I. What an intoxicating mix of beauty and skill, that Annie… She makes me shiver…