Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney fame has teamed up with Annie Clark, better known as St. Vincent for a concert tour film, that both have written. This film will be shot as a documentary but will be written like a theatrical feature rather than a “mockumentary,” which typically parodies documentary films.
According to The Brooklyn Vegan this film will “follows heightened versions of themselves as they interact with assistants, bandmates, music journalists and, of course, fans.” It is unknown whether this project will be a follow-up of the duo’s Instagram videos that took place several years ago.
Portlandia director and editor Bill Benz has been named as the project’s director, while Jett Steiger and Lana Kim of Ways & Means have been named as the film’s producers. Topic Studios will be developing this currently unnamed film, however they claim that the film will not be released any time in the near future.
Both Clark and Brownstein have contributed in multi-media projects together in the past, with Brownstein writing the lines in a series of faux “interview” clips released to Instagram in the lead-up to the release of St. Vincent’s MASSEDUCTION album. In addition, Clark has made numerous appearances on Portlandia.
On the non-musical side of things Brownstein has also been featured in Todd Haynes‘ romantic drama Carol, Gus Van Sant‘s drama Don’t Worry, He Won’t Get Far on Foot, and Ike Barinholtz‘s directorial debut The Oath. Clark on the other hand has recently written and directed a segment of the horror anthology film XX titled The Birthday Party, and is also working as a director on the upcoming film adaption of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Clark has been tapped as the producer for Sleater-Kinney’s upcoming album, which is set to be released later this year. This upcoming project will be the first since the group’s 2015 comeback album No Cities to Love, which ended a decade long hiatus from the band.
As one of the top female musicians in the independent music scene, Clark has cited Sleater-Kinney, one of the most influential all-girl indie bands, as a major influence. Back in 2018, Clark covered the Sleater-Kinney classic “Modern Girl,” prior to her St. Vincent concert.
MASSEDUCATION is Clark’s most recent studio album under the St. Vincent name and was lauded for its personal depth, lyricism and production becoming the artist’s first top ten hit album ever. In addition to its critical, and commercial success, Clark has named the album as her most personal endeavor.
“My heart is in these songs completely. My whole life is in these songs. It’s not literal because then it wouldn’t be art necessarily. I also feel that once the song is written it’s not about me anymore,” Clark explained in an interview with NME. “It’s not for me. It’s flattering that people would want to know about what inspired them from my life, but really the point of music is that it’s really supposed to be about the music at that point.”
Photo Credit: Owen Ela