Los Angeles, US: St. Vincent, the singer and multi-instrumentalist known for her genre-merging pop songs, on Sunday won the Grammy for Best Alternative Album.

Real name Anne Clark, St. Vincent was awarded for her self-titled fourth album, which is full of tales of darkness and despair -- even while keeping pop melodies.

The 32-year-old New Yorker -- who sings and plays most instruments on her albums -- has for several years been one of the most-watched faces in the indie rock scene, with her music consistently winning strong acclaim.

The ‘St. Vincent’ album keeps some of the dark lyricism and orchestration of her previous work but is structured in more accessible pop form with hints of jazz.

St. Vincent has been introduced to a larger audience through her frequent collaboration with David Byrne of Talking Heads fame, with whom she has performed a number of intimate concerts.

St. Vincent did not appear in Los Angeles to accept the Grammy.

The Best Alternative Album category was created in the early 1990s amid a surge of interest in musicians who did not follow the pop formulas so popular a decade earlier.

But some critics have sometimes questioned the nature of the category, noting that it has awarded artists with already large followings such as U2 and Green Day.