Annie has a lot of respect for Sufjan, so I doubt this is a direct reference to him.
Recent Reddit AMA:
"Will you ever collaborate with Sufjan again? Cheers for the music, the new album's great.
[–]St_Vincent Annie Clark[S] 221 points 1 month ago
i love sufjan's music. i played in his band for a couple of tours on "come on feel the illinois(e)?" -- it would give me too much credit to say i "collaborated" with him. he's a beautiful musician."
"FP: You call yourself St. Vincent and toured with Sufjan. Sufjan’s known to include some religious subject matter in his work. Do you ever incorporate religion as a theme?
"FP: You call yourself St. Vincent and toured with Sufjan. Sufjan’s known to include some religious subject matter in his work. Do you ever incorporate religion as a theme?
AC: Hmmm. The name is actually a family name. It’s more honoring where you come from. I’m actually really interested in the human condition. I think in this culture, with the mythology we have to draw on, everybody knows their religious story. Whether they’re religious or not, they’re aware. So in terms of religious references, I tend to draw on religious mythology because it’s so ubiquitous....
AC: Hmmm. The name is actually a family name. It’s more honoring where you come from. I’m actually really interested in the human condition. I think in this culture, with the mythology we have to draw on, everybody knows their religious story. Whether they’re religious or not, they’re aware. So in terms of religious references, I tend to draw on religious mythology because it’s so ubiquitous. I’m definitely interested [in religion] in an intellectual sense.
FP: Yeah. With your first record, there’s the reference to “Jesus saves, you spend,” etc.
AC: Yeah, I just thought of that as silly wordplay. It’s a little bit of a light poking fun. I didn’t mean a whole lot more by it except for silly wordplay. But I don’t think that anyone misinterprets or really even interprets the way the artist intended for it to be. Which is wonderful, that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
FP: That’s fair. How do you feel toward listeners who might end up misinterpreting what was meant to be religious? Sufjan is a great example.
AC: Y’know, I don’t think there’s any big ideological conflict. You can enjoy things on a lot of levels If you are a person who is religious and want to imbue the music with that kind of lens, then you’ll filter it through that lens and have one kind of experience. If you’re not, and you think “oh! This is some really beautiful music, and I like it” then you’ll get that kind of experience. I don’t think anyone is in danger of any kind of ideological brain shift. I mean, with shows, with the Polyphonic Spree certainly brings up this religious imagery with the gospel robes, but people have been wearing costumes in rock n’ roll for a long time. [Laughs] It’s just performance art."
Annie has a lot of respect for Sufjan, so I doubt this is a direct reference to him.
Recent Reddit AMA:
"Will you ever collaborate with Sufjan again? Cheers for the music, the new album's great. [–]St_Vincent Annie Clark[S] 221 points 1 month ago i love sufjan's music. i played in his band for a couple of tours on "come on feel the illinois(e)?" -- it would give me too much credit to say i "collaborated" with him. he's a beautiful musician."
2009 interview with Flavorwire:
2009 interview with Flavorwire:
"FP: You call yourself St. Vincent and toured with Sufjan. Sufjan’s known to include some religious subject matter in his work. Do you ever incorporate religion as a theme?
"FP: You call yourself St. Vincent and toured with Sufjan. Sufjan’s known to include some religious subject matter in his work. Do you ever incorporate religion as a theme?
AC: Hmmm. The name is actually a family name. It’s more honoring where you come from. I’m actually really interested in the human condition. I think in this culture, with the mythology we have to draw on, everybody knows their religious story. Whether they’re religious or not, they’re aware. So in terms of religious references, I tend to draw on religious mythology because it’s so ubiquitous....
AC: Hmmm. The name is actually a family name. It’s more honoring where you come from. I’m actually really interested in the human condition. I think in this culture, with the mythology we have to draw on, everybody knows their religious story. Whether they’re religious or not, they’re aware. So in terms of religious references, I tend to draw on religious mythology because it’s so ubiquitous. I’m definitely interested [in religion] in an intellectual sense.
FP: Yeah. With your first record, there’s the reference to “Jesus saves, you spend,” etc.
AC: Yeah, I just thought of that as silly wordplay. It’s a little bit of a light poking fun. I didn’t mean a whole lot more by it except for silly wordplay. But I don’t think that anyone misinterprets or really even interprets the way the artist intended for it to be. Which is wonderful, that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
FP: That’s fair. How do you feel toward listeners who might end up misinterpreting what was meant to be religious? Sufjan is a great example.
AC: Y’know, I don’t think there’s any big ideological conflict. You can enjoy things on a lot of levels If you are a person who is religious and want to imbue the music with that kind of lens, then you’ll filter it through that lens and have one kind of experience. If you’re not, and you think “oh! This is some really beautiful music, and I like it” then you’ll get that kind of experience. I don’t think anyone is in danger of any kind of ideological brain shift. I mean, with shows, with the Polyphonic Spree certainly brings up this religious imagery with the gospel robes, but people have been wearing costumes in rock n’ roll for a long time. [Laughs] It’s just performance art."