Tess Malone is won over by St Vincent's quirky charms and neat beats at Glasgow's hipper-than-thou Stereo.

Despite being the queen of the indie music world, no one really understands Annie Clark. Critics are desperate to categorise the St. Vincent front woman as a doe-eyed musician of dissonance. Hipsters classify her erudite lyrics that reference Arrested Development as covetously cool. As a result, the crowd at Glasgow’s hipper- than-thou venue, Stereo, affirmed this. They were too blasé to notice that Clark was eating soup in the upstairs cafe – the only indication that she was the main act was her leather hotpants. For the rest of the evening, Clark defied the conventions surrounding her.

The most striking member of St. Vincent’s band was an enigmatic singer, the support, Cate le Bon. Her Nico-esque vocals washed over the crowd, but demand more than one guitarist. A back-up band could let her reach haunting proportions.

St. Vincent know they will never be mainstream, but Clark loves playing with the tropes as the band does on their latest and most accessible album Strange Mercy. Opening with "Surgeon", Clark played a cheesy guitar riff while singing “Best find a surgeon, can’t cut me open”, a reference to something Marilyn Monroe said. This song is classic Clark - clever lyrics combined with corny chords that manages to reinvent the two and create good music to dance to. The problem is Clark attracts an audience that is too nonplussed to dance. This was especially the problem when she played a cover of "She is Beyond Good and Evil"; a song demanding the audience rock out, but only left a few toes tapping. Nevertheless, Clark tried to woo the audience through compliments - “You guys are an unusually attractive crowd” - and rambling anecdotes about breaking into graveyards. The conversational Clark is such a contrast from the cacophonous one that it keeps the audience guessing.

Effectively, this turns the already intimately small Stereo basement into an even more personal space. Everyone was transfixed as Clark duelled with her theremin on the intense "Northern Lights" and turned "The Party" from a sombre rock song to a fractured fairytale with just the help of her keyboardist. Clark operates on controlled anger, swearing more during the set than usual, but has matured enough as an artist to play a clipped "Your Lips are Red" instead of subjecting the audience to reverb. These songs crystallise St. Vincent’s appeal - delicate talent juxtaposed with a shock of fury - and explain why Clark holds her indie crown.