From The Polyphonic Spree to Marry Me
After dropping out of university, St. Vincent initially released an experimental EP with her class fellows titled “Ratsliveonnoevilstar”. However, shortly afterwards she decided to move back to her hometown, where she later joined The Polyphonic Spree, a few months before they were about to embark on their European tour. During her time with TPS, she also worked with 100 guitar orchestra of Glenn Branca in 2004. After leaving Spree, she joined the touring band of Sufjan Stevens in 2006. By the end of the tour, Vincent had a three song EP by the name of “Paris is Burning”.
Later in 2006, St. Vincent started working on her debut album. That is when she adopted the stage name “St. Vincent”. Her album “Marry Me” was released a year later in July, through Beggars Banquet Records. The album also included appearances by other artists, especially instrumentalists such as Louis Schwadron, Mike Garson and Brian Teasley. The songs featured in this record were mostly written by Vincent. The album managed to receive positive reviews by the fans as well as the critics. Soon Vincent was being compared to the likes of David Bowie and Kate Bush. A year after the release of the debut record, Vincent got nominated for PLUG Independent Music Awards. She won in the category of “Female Artist of the Year”.
A New Source of Inspiration
After a long tour in support of her debut album, St. Vincent returned to New York and started to work on her second studio album. The inspiration for this upcoming album came from a number of movies, especially of Disney, which she was watching with devotion at that time. Since at that time Vincent didn’t have a studio of her own, she started to work in her apartment, on her personal computer. A year later in the summer of 2009, “Actor” was released through 4AD Records. It further gained her commercial success and received good reviews, including 8 out of 10 rating by Spin. It peaked at Billboard’s Independent Album Chart at number nine.
After touring for two years in promotion of her music, in 2011 St. Vincent announced that she will start working on her third studio album. John Congleton, her producer announced a few months later that the two of them were already half way through releasing the record. In July of the same year, through her website she released first single from the album that went by the name of Surgeon. The album finally came out in September to widespread acclaim, making it to Billboard 200 at number nineteen. This led to her tour across Europe and the US in its support. The tour continued throughout 2012 and was taken across the world.
Birth in Reverse and Digital Witness
After two years of touring, St. Vincent decided that it was time to start working on a new album and this time it was going to be self titled. She signed to Republic Records and in November of 2013 announced through her cyber space that she is embarking on a European and North American tour in 2014 which will be titled Digital Witness Tour. Two teaser songs, Birth in Reverse and Digital Witness have already been released.