Marry Me

Marry Me is the debut studio album by American musician St. Vincent. It was released on July 10, 2007, in the United States and on September 3, 2007 in the United Kingdom, through Beggars Banquet Records. The album is named after a running gag from the television show Arrested Development. As of 2009, the album has sold an estimated 30,000 copies. Background St. Vincent started working on Marry Me before she joined The Polyphonic Spree, and finished it while touring with them. Sufjan Stevens heard it and asked St. Vincent to be in his band and open for him; after a show in London opening for Stevens, Beggars Banquet Records offered St. Vincent a record contract and published the record. She recorded most of the album's track in her bedroom in Texas. "Half the record" is composed of material that had not been played live prior to the album's recording sessions. Critical reception At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received a rating of 78, based on 20 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Critics often praised the ambitious orchestral production of the album, while others found it overstuffed.