St. Vincent

It's no surprise that Annie Clark, the slender, Oklahoma-bred curly-haired beauty behind St. Vincent, sounds like the female version of Sufjan Stevens. She has played with Stevens, as well as the Polyphonic Spree, everyone's favorite choir-robed purveyors of uplifting pop. The surprise is that, as a solo artist, St. Vincent creates anything but lo-fi indie pop. Instead, she combines simultaneously sweet sentiment and boldly experimental instrumentation. ''Now Now,'' for example, from her upcoming debut, ''Marry Me,'' is a shifting fusion of music-box-like tinkling and whispery, call-and-response vocals that dissolve into screeching guitar distortion. Beggars Banquet will release ''Marry Me'' on July 10, but you can catch a preview tomorrow night, when St. Vincent opens for John Vanderslice at the Middle East Upstairs.

--Caitlin E. Curran, Globe Correspondent