St. Vincent is the performance pseudonym for Annie Clark, a very talented American multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter and former member of both The Polyphonic Spree and Sufjan Stevens’ touring band. She recently collaborated with David Byrne, head vocalist of the Talking Heads, on a new album released this week, Love This Giant. The two co-wrote 10 of the 12 tracks on the disc, with each artist also penning one song individually.  Their first single, “WHO”,  is an effective and effortless blend of naturally programmed percussion, featuring lots of mid-range brass and reed instruments such as the trumpet, saxophone, trombone, French horn, tuba, and euphonium. The result is a compellingly unique, baroque-style sound that also encourages hip-shaking to the funky horns, while maintaining a distinctly contemporary feel. Their admirably rigid structure is one of balanced choruses that are sung together in a cooperative manner: one holds down the center while the other occasionally chimes in.

Clark had nothing but praise for Davis in a recent interview, admiring his endless “…dearth of creative energy. It takes many forms, but he doesn’t seem to be a nostalgic person. He always wants to be moving forward. That’s inspiring.”  The duo will be performing in San Francisco on October 15th at the Orpheum Theatre, a venue that is typically reserved for silent films, motion pictures, musical comedy and other thespian entertainment. Seems very appropriate.