St. Vincent performing at the Brixton Academy, London (Alberto Pezzali / Live4ever)
The acoustic version of St. Vincent‘s track New York is available on YouTube after it was first aired at this year’s virtual Brooklyn Academy Of Music annual gala.
The stripped back version echoes the piano-led re-recording of MASSEDUCTION which followed that album’s original release in 2017 – where New York first appeared. Titled MassEducation, it came out of live performances by Anne Erin Clark which had been arranged by Thomas ‘Doveman’ Bartlett when, according to Clark, the pair ‘faced each other’: “Him hunched over a grand piano, me curled on a couch,” she wrote.
“We neither rehearsed nor spoke about how to approach any song. but rather played 2-3 live takes, picked the best one, and trusted in the feeling of the moment. It was fast. Intuitive. Discovered. Raw.”
“I first met Thomas ten years ago. Through many red wined and tequilaed nights in downtown New York he introduced me to so many of the characters and creatures I would later write into songs.”