Pat Duffy, formerly of Pop Tarts Suck Toasted (RIP), checks in for us! Lovely. It really is the only way to describe St. Vincent. She looks lovely, she sounds lovely and she has lovely musicians making music with her. Then she steps on a pedal and the distortion comes running in and something about the disparity between her beautiful voice and the messy guitar sound makes the music even more lovely. Wearing an orange dress and looking like no heat would be too hot for her crazy black hair, St. Vincent dominated her set yesterday afternoon, shredding through her latest release Actor and making the indie boys and girls salivate alike. Though she stayed away from her debut album there was no shortage of “Marry Me” cries coming from the crowd and almost every one of them sounded completely earnest. Gorgeous as she was standing on the Connector stage, the music is her real allure. Like a siren summoning us to her she drew people throughout her set, filling the space up to capacity and earning every new ear that was piqued to her sound. It was a beautiful set but anyone who had seen her knew that would be the case before it ever started. The surprise any time you see her is how much she shreds, and it doesn’t matter how many times you’ve seen it it still surprises. How does someone so lovely and delicate shred so hard? I don’t have an answer for you but it amazes me every time I witness it. St. Vincent is a bona fide star and on Sunday she truly showed every side of it. The voice, the musicianship, every aspect of her performance stands out from the crowd and it was even more impressive amid all the buzz bands and critical darlings that filled the weekend. All we can say at this point is, wow she sure is lovely. SPTR: 9.0.

View more photos & download a St. Vincent selection AFTER THE JUMP…

MP3: St. Vincent – The Strangers