St. Vincent is Annie Clark, who has recorded with the Polyphonic Spree and been part of Sufjan Stevens's touring act. In July, the 24-year-old struck out on her own with an album, Marry Me, of slightly spooky pop songs full of oddball instrumental layers. Don't let the deer-in-headlights photo on her album cover fool you — Clark is engaged and thoroughly charming. She's the sort of person who, mid-interview, starts asking about you — not because she's dodging the questions, but because she just wants to know. Already on her way to Austin as part of her current tour, Clark is now also playing ACL, filling the slot vacated by the White Stripes.

You've been scheduled for the Hot Freaks party on Saturday for a while, but you've now been added to the ACL lineup. I'm sure you're used to twists and turns from touring, but how did you react to getting added to a big gig like that?

With total excitement. I was sad that the White Stripes canceled, but happy that because the White Stripes canceled I get to be there. I'm overjoyed.

I am gonna be pretty swamped on Saturday, but I'm going to try and catch some stuff on Sunday. I looked at the lineup and remember being very excited. And my friends the National are playing as well. Should be great.

You know, you've already made it into Wikipedia. That's pretty impressive.

Really? Wow. I'm impressed with me.

You told LAist a few months ago that you have in your rider that there is to be no melon in the fruit spread, but you've never gotten a fruit spread. Now that your album's been out a few months, are you getting more star treatment?

I still don't get a fruit spread. I don't know if they haven't heard of me or they just don't want to incur my wrath. Star treatment...we keep it pretty mellow, pretty modest. I did get a martini in a glass the other day — [it] was kind of lit up and neon in a Senor Frog's kind of way. That might qualify.

Did the phone beep or did you curse?

The phone beeped.

Oh. I thought maybe it beeped because you cursed. Wouldn't that be great if the phone edited us? That would be great for me.

How does working with your own project differ from working on projects led by other musicians?

Making the Marry Me record, I would spend a lot of time by myself. I guess working with other people [is] more democratic. Not that this was totalitarian.

I saw on your website that you've gotten into Arthur Russell recently. Are there any other musicians, new or old, that you'd particularly recommend to people?

Bruce Haak and this album Electric Lucifer that's old electronic music, and it's gorgeous, disturbing. I would recommend—I'm going to shamefully mispronounce his name— but I think it's György Ligeti. He's a composer, and it's just really beautiful, haunting. Both of those artists are kind of solitary, listening in your room with a glass of wine or something. It's a lot to take in, not like driving down the highway in a convertible kind of music.

How do you find new-to-you music?

Usually it's my friends who recommend stuff. And, I'll also say that blogs have been really helpful. I found out about a lot of things I really like through the internet, so unlike a music magazine, if you're reading a blog, you're two clicks away from actually hearing what's being described. It's a pretty democratic thing. You see something you like, you don't have to necessarily see a picture in a magazine to go “oh, that's cool, I'd buy that.”

How did you arrive at music as a profession? Was there anything else you wanted to be when you were a kid?

I was never really happy or fulfilled unless I was making something and sort of channeling all kinds of nervous energy or excitement. I was never really satisfied unless I was channeling that into something that was creative, like, "Oh, I made this thing, I made this thing that has a life outside of me."

Music kind of emerged from the pack pretty early on. It was the thing I had the most proclivity towards. Really, a whole lot of that comes from anxiety and nervous energy and curiosity and wanting to make something, because I don't really know what else to do. What does one do if one doesn't create stuff? I don't know. Big question mark.

What was the first instrument you learned how to play?

Guitar. I saw the movie La Bamba when I was five—Rickie Valens has that red Stratocaster I thought was so cool. I just fell in love with the instrument and the mystique of it.

What are your favorite instruments to play?

My favorite instrument to play is the piano, because I'm not as familiar with it as guitar. I've played guitar for a while now, and sometimes I feel like I don't know what to discover. I know there's so much more to discover on guitar, but I know if I put my fingers here, it's going to sound like this. I just know the instrument. Piano I don't know as well, everything is constantly exploring, so many things I'd never think to do on guitar. I enjoy that.

What's the instrument you don't already know how to play that you'd most like to learn?

I think I would like to play the flugelhorn or tuba or something -- an instrument that's often used for comedic effect.

You've certainly come through Austin a few times before. Do you have an Austin story you'd be willing to share?

The last time I played in Austin at Emo's, I went to soundcheck [and] I had everything plugged in. I went to sing into the microphone, and the microphone shocked me—like shocked my face, and it just completely stunned me and terrified me. It was just some flukey ghost of a wiring problem somewhere, that apparently had never happened at the place before. It had never happened to me, it's never happened to me since. It was just some weird spectre in the air.

This very, very brave soundman there had to be the tester for me, because I was scared to check the microphone again, and he was getting shocked every time. No one likes to get shocked in the face. It's very painful. He was very, very drunk and very brave. He was my savior.

St. Vincent will play at Austin City Limits on Saturday the 15th at 4:00 p.m. on the Austin Ventures Stage. St. Vincent will also be playing the Hot Freaks afterparty Saturday night at Mohawk/Club de Ville.

St. Vincent [official][MySpace]
[Picture by Tod Seelie from the St. Vincent MySpace page]