"a heart like a socket I can plug into at will"

I'm not usually ambivalent about bands or artists, but in St. Vincent's case I'll make an exception.

St. Vincent is the band of multi-instrumentalist Polyphonic Spree member Annie Clark and I really can't think of a good way to describe what her music sounds like. 'Complicated' is probably the best I can do! Some of it I love, some of it is really not my sort of thing but it's certainly never dull. Some songs make my heart beat faster and feel afraid as if I've just watched someone pull a knife on me (Solex's Shoot Shoot sounded pant-wettingly scary to me in the same way), some songs make me want to spin around in an empty field until I fall over and some songs make me want to take her instruments away after four minutes, so she'll stop noodling on them!

St. Vincent's album Marry Me was released in the UK on 3rd September. You can buy it here, but first listen to the title track below, which is excellent and was the most instantly grabbing for me. (Left click)

St. Vincent - Marry Me mp3 (available for 7 days)

I also loved the fabulously named Jesus Saves, I Spend (which you can download below) but I could have happily chosen four or five other songs from the album to represent the good half of St. Vincent. I say 'the good half', but that's a little harsh. It's all sweeping, intricate, on a grand scale and performed beautifully. What I really mean is 'the half that I took to'.

St. Vincent - Jesus Saves, I Spend mp3 (available for 7 days)

You can also buy Marry Me on iTunes. Visit St. Vincent's myspace page to hear three more songs from the album - I'll regret it if you don't! I'm fairly sure that within a month I will have been completely won over by the unique sound of St. Vincent.