St. Vincent

With a mind so eccentric she makes Willy Wonka seem beige, – not to mention the musical prowess to do whatever she damn well pleases – St. Vincent (real name Annie Clark) brings to the guitar a world of whimsicality entirely of her own. She leaps between isles of pop, rock and electronica, slicking all of her tunes with an ar tistic edge that many have imitated, but none have come close to mastering quite like St. Vincent. She plays with the guitar in ways many never thought to be possible, bending the instrument far past any wrongly preconceived ‘boundaries’.

When she isn’t ripping it up in her own kaleidoscopic bubble of creativity, St. Vincent can be found working closely with some of the biggest and best artists on the planet – for example, she produced the cracking new LP by Sleater-Kinney, The Center Won’t Hold, and she’s lent her talents to such scene-ruling stars as The National, Amanda Palmer and (believe it or not) Taylor Swift.

She’s also responsible for revolutionising the guitar at its core level, designing – in tandem with Ernie Ball Music Man – a signature model that aims to make holding and playing the guitar a more comfortable experience for women whose bodies may be at odds with the more ‘traditional’ shapes out there. She’s been doled praise for such by everyone from Lila Ramani to Jack White, and it’s without a doubt that St. Vincent is to thank for a whole class of new guitarists soon to break out on the scene.