St. Vincent names her two favourite guitarists
Carving out a distinctive art rock sound that has earned her three Grammy Awards, an impressive list of collaborators, and the endless adoration of David Byrne, St. Vincent is one of the most intriguing artists in contemporary music. Over two decades, she’s honed her artistry through personas and performance, but at the heart of it all is her undeniable talent as a guitarist.
St. Vincent, also known as Annie Clark, has her roots firmly in guitar music. Long before she embodied theatricality for Actor and donned bold outfits in the image of Masseduction, Clark honed her guitar skills as a pre-teen before delving into stranger spheres such as noise rock.
Clark completed brief stints with the Polyphonic Spree and Skull Fuckers, and, though neither of them would come anywhere close to the arty sound and image she would hone as St. Vincent, it’s easy to see how these off-kilter beginnings would retain an influence on her unique solo sound. But Clark found her place when she began playing live with Sufjan Stevens, a fellow peer of the “triumph of art rock,” according to Byrne.
Since then, Clark has well and truly come into her own as an artist and as a guitarist, forging distinctive melodies and riffs with techniques that borrow from metal just as much as they commit to art rock. Her talent has been rewarded with a huge cultural impact, so it’s safe to say that she’s more than qualified to assess the merit of other guitar-wielding musicians.
Clark once revealed her two favourite guitarists during a conversation with Guitar Player, noting that she admires them both for their ability to take the instrument to its extremes. Her choices were Mark Ribot and Andy Gill, both of whom she described as “people who can make a guitar sound like it is being strangled or really make it sing, sometimes both in the same breath.”
They’re certainly both guitarists worthy of that description. As the lead guitarist for Gang of Four, Gill was instrumental in the post-punk scene, and his influence can still be felt today as the genre experiences a revival. At once grating and gratifying, his distinctive guitar sound has become all too familiar amidst Radio 6’s never-ending preoccupation with post-punk.
Marc Ribot is an equally impressive guitarist with a career spanning countless genres and collaborations. He worked extensively with Tom Waits but boasts an impressive roster of collaborators, including Elton John, Robert Plant and The Black Keys.
As an artist with an impressive number of collaborations to her name and a distinctive sound of her own, it’s easy to see where Clark’s admiration for Gill and Ribot came from.
