Sharon Van Etten

	Sharon Van Etten, January 2013
	Chart positions ; Explanation of the data
	Albums
	tramp
	Are We There
	Remind Me Tomorrow

Sharon Van Etten (born February 21, 1981 in Clinton , New Jersey ) is an American singer and songwriter . She plays guitar , piano , violin and clarinet . Their music is a mixture of folk , rock , indie pop and subtle country influences .

Biography and artistic career

Sharon Van Etten was born the middle of five siblings in Clinton and grew up in Nutley, New Jersey. Her parents owned a large collection of vinyl records, which made Sharon familiar with classics such as Neil Young , Tom Petty and the hits of the Rolling Stones . Their own listening habits went in the direction of alternative and independent : u. a. PJ Harvey , Damien Jurado , Bettie Serveert or The War on Drugs .

At Elementary School she sang in the school choir and learned to play the piano, violin and clarinet. After the family moved to Clinton, she attended high school , where she first took a serious look at music and taught herself to play the guitar. During this time she began to write her first songs.

After graduating from high school, Van Etten moved to Tennessee to study in the Department of Recording Industry at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro , which she dropped out the following year. Her partner at the time, a rock musician himself, stood in the way of her musical career by denying her sufficient talent and forbidding her to perform in public. In addition, her songs are “ too personal ”: “ But it's because they were all about him and how badly he was treating me. So of course he didn't like it. “Still, she used every opportunity to secretly perform at open mic events . After six years, Van Etten took her guitar and fled this “unbearable” relationship back to her parents in New Jersey. Van Etten processed this part of her time in Tennessee in many of her songs like "Love More" ("You chained me like a dog in your room"), "A Crime" ("Never let myself love like that again") or "Serpents". In retrospect, Van Etten also saw this time as instructive: “You know, apart from the relationship shit, I think it was really good for me. I learned a lot. "

After another year she moved to New York City to start her career as a musician again. First she worked for one of the most renowned wine shops in NYC for three years: “I was really into it but I started becoming kind of a snob. Wine is not really a job, it's a lifestyle choice. "

Her musical career was given a decisive boost when Kyp Malone, singer and guitarist of the indie rock band TV on the Radio , heard a CD-R of their self-produced recordings and supported them from then on. “[Kyp] ended up taking me under his wing, introducing me to friends, and showing me new music that I didn't know existed. […] I started playing more seriously and getting encouraged by people. ”Her work as a publicist at“ BaDaBing Records + Management ”and the acquaintance with her boss Ben Goldberg also helped her to gain an insight into the music industry and at the same time to build a network from which she could benefit artistically. Goldberg released Van Etten's second album epic (2010), with which she achieved a first respectable success. In 2010 Van Etten also met Aaron Dessner ( The National ); Dessner had recorded a cover version of "Love More" with his twin brother Bryce and Justin Vernon ( Bon Iver ), on which Van Etten wanted to congratulate them. As a result of this encounter, she toured Europe's major concert halls with The National in 2011, found a producer in Aaron Dessner for her next album Tramp (2012) and a new record label in Bon Ivers Jagjaguwar . Dessner also brought her together with the multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter Heather Woods Broderick , who from then on became an important part of her live band. Tramp , which was created at a time when Van Etten had no permanent home, marks her international breakthrough and was critically acclaimed. For the next 18 months, Van Etten toured almost continuously. This professionally and privately very stressful time and the associated emotional ups and downs she processed in her fourth album Are We There (2014), which she tackled immediately afterwards.

In 2016 Van Etten appeared in the role of Rachel in five episodes of the Netflix series The OA , in which she also sings her song "I Wish I Knew".
For the film Strange Weather by American director Katherine Dieckmann, which was shown for the first time at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2016 , five songs by Van Etten were used for the film music , including "Save Yourself" and "Kevin's". In 2017 Van Etten also had a guest appearance in episode 6 of the third season of the US television series Twin Peaks . At the end of the episode she sings her song "Tarifa" from the album Are We There on the stage of the BANG BANG BAR .

Almost five years after Are We There - also due to a baby break (birth of a son in spring 2017) - Van Etten released her fifth album Remind Me Tomorrow in January 2019 .

Van Etten lives in the New York district of Brooklyn .

Musical style

Each of their albums marks a new musical stage of development, ranging from the minimalist folk of the debut album to the much more aggressive rock sounds on Tramp to the more opulent, instrumented, indie-pop-influenced Are We There . Van Etten's songs often seem very compact and of one piece, especially when she doesn't compose her refrains as a supporting part, as is usual in pop, but instead embeds them in a consistent basic structure with almost no breaks. In this way she avoids an overly conventional verse / chorus scheme in many of her songs. Also typical of Van Etten's style is the frequent use of polyphonic singing in Close Harmony . Aaron Dessner: “ It's amazing to watch her in the studio, because she can sing three, four, or five-part harmonies with herself perfectly on the first try. It's like this harmonic sense is hardwired in her brain. “In order to be able to implement this preference in front of an audience, she was initially supported at her concerts by Cat Martino, and since Tramp even more effectively by Heather Woods Broderick. If you add the compositional dramaturgy of those songs in which Van Etten creates a continuous increase in dynamics, their music sometimes takes on an almost hymn-like character. Examples are “Serpents”, “All I Can” ( Tramp ) or “Your Love Is Killing Me” ( Are We There ). With her fifth album Remind Me Tomorrow she treads electronically dominated paths for the first time.

Sharon Van Etten's songs are about love, fear, longing and the desperate struggle for self-confidence and self-esteem: "I sing about my fear and love and what it brings" ("I Know"). For her, the process of writing is a form of necessary self-therapy and catharsis: “When composing, I just let everything out. Unfiltered. But only when I feel that I've come across something that speaks not only to me, but also to other people, only then have I found a song. ”The emotionality of their songs arises from the open lyrics and their interplay of song and melody . Her alto voice , which sounds elegiac in its basic tone but is nevertheless powerful, harmonizes well with the melodic phrasing: "Van Etten has established herself as a vocalist capable of imbuing every note with an astonishing spectrum of feeling, of crafting melodies that feel nearly unprecedented."

Sharon Van Etten 2010

Albums and reception

Because I Was In Love

After the early, informal self-directed recordings, Because I Was In Love (2009) is Van Etten's official debut album. Recorded in Philadelphia, it was produced by Van Etten and Greg Weeks (including Espers ) and released on Weeks own label "Language of Stone". The extremely melancholic songs are recorded in the classic folk style with mainly acoustic guitar and minimal additional arrangements. “I Wish I Knew” and “Tornado” stoically hold the melancholy keynote through from beginning to end, while in “Keep” it is supplemented by restrained organ sounds and harmony vocals. “It's Not Like”, on the other hand, increases moderately with the subtle use of electric guitars. With “I Fold” she comes closest to a classic stanza-refrain scheme. “For You” is possibly the song that is most characteristic of Van Etten's interplay of vocals and melody.

In November 2017, a remixed release of this album with two additional songs was released digitally and on vinyl .
On the occasion of this re-release, Stephen Johnson from NPR says: “ It captures a sound Sharon Van Etten has since left behind, but it remains radiant, universal and utterly timeless. "

Epic

Van Etten's second album Epic (2010) marks a turning point. Supported by a full band, the musical range is significantly expanded. In addition to classic acoustic folk like in the beginning “A Crime” there are echoes of indie rock (“Peace Signs”), more conventional country folk (“Save Youself”) or almost psychedelic keyboard sounds (“Dsharpg”). “Don't Do It”, on the other hand, is a typical Van Etten song, which begins cautiously with a simple guitar accompaniment and slowly climbs into an approximately hymn-like crescendo using polyphonic harmonies. With “One Day” the album also offers a catchy folk rock song with catchy tunes.
The still manageable echo of the criticism sees progress on the first album: “ But the cool grace with which Van Etten belts every line [...] make for an explosive sound that didn't seem possible from her earlier. She sounds as though she's arrived. Matthew Fiander sees it similarly: "Because I Was In Love was a heartfelt, strong introduction to a powerful new voice, but epic is a knockout front to back ". Others praise Van Etten's vocal qualities: “ but where Epic fails to deliver in size, it more than makes up for in sound. Van Etten possesses one of those rare voices that can make even the weakest material soar "

tramp

Van Etten wrote the songs for her third album Tramp (2012) at a time when she was without a permanent residence: “I mean, when I say homeless, I don't mean sleeping on the street. I had the [touring] van and I was couch-surfing at friends' houses. I had probably about 10 sets of keys in my bag ". Produced by Aaron Brooking Dessner, the album was recorded in his studio over a period of fourteen months. Musically it is their most differentiated and by far the most successful album to date. Dessner's influence, however, is immediately noticeable: the opening song “Warsaw” is a rumbling indie rock number with aggressively distorted electric guitars , but which is still unmistakably based on Van Etten's characteristic melodies and harmonies. She continues this new style in the heavily orchestrated "Serpents", probably the most popular song on the album, or in the rougher ballads "In Line" and "All I Can". Songs like “Give Out”, “Kevin's” or “Joke Or A Lie”, on the other hand, are even more reminiscent of the indie folk of the previous albums.
The critics rate the realignment of their style mostly positive: “ Tramp continues the trajectory that got underway with her debut LP Because I Was in Love in 2009, broadening her sound and exhibiting greater confidence while markedly ramping up the volume. ". For Pitchfork the album is refreshing: “ With refreshing, unmistakable directness, she sings like a human being who wants more from herself. On Tramp, she finds what she's looking for. “In his review, Thom Jurek sees the album as a promise that has not (yet) been kept:“ Perhaps it's the exhaustive, confessional nature of its songs, its reliance on three basic melodic ideas, or even its length. [...] Van Etten skirts the edges of giving us a great album without actually delivering one. "

Are We There

With Are We There (2014), which she again produced herself together with Stewart Lerman, Van Etten has again expanded her stylistic spectrum. After the sometimes aggressive tones of the previous album, there are also significantly more harmonious sounds, which is primarily due to the instruments on which the songs were created: Omnichord and piano replaced the guitar. With “Afraid Of Nothing” she starts with playful keyboards and strings in a cautiously optimistic mood. In the following songs, the electronic organ and the electronic sounds of the omnichord as well as “more refrain-heavy” compositions than before ensure a noticeable stylistic shift towards indie pop, without, however, completely losing the melancholy, rough tone and the sometimes anthemic temperament of earlier works.
Thematically, Are We There also provides unusual contrasts, which brought the emotional ups and downs of the time after the publication of Tramp : "Tarifa" sings about the togetherness of a carefree summer vacation in Spain in an unusually positive mood, but "Your Love Is Killing Me" destroys the idyll with relentlessly brutal images. With Tramp's success in mind, the last track on the album even comes up with a self- deprecating joke: “ People say I'm a one hit wonder / But what happens if I have two? "

Are We There received mostly positive feedback from the criticism . The Rolling Stone takes up Van Etten's self-irony: “ Define“ hit ”as you like; that she's a wonder, there's no doubt. "For Fred Thomas the album is clearly a step forward:" The more inventive arrangements and advances in songwriting are an undeniable step forward for Van Etten ". The Guardian , however, sees a qualitative discrepancy between music and lyrics: " But Van Etten's melodies often feel as if they're not quite taking flight, and rarely cause you to catch your breath the way her lyrics do ."

I Don't Want to Let You Down (EP)

The five songs on this EP are taken from the recordings of Are We There , which is why I Don't Want to Let You Down should not be understood as an independent production and stylistic similarities are therefore inevitable. The guitar-oriented title track and “Tell Me” recorded live in Barcelona , on the other hand, are reminiscent of the albums Epic and Tramp . The dramaturgy of “Pay My Debts” with its shimmering guitar and organ sounds and the repetitive multiple echo bass attack in the verse is most clearly out of the ordinary.
In the basic mood a bit more melancholy than Are We There , these new songs also deal with the themes of loss and ambivalent closeness in partly poetic, partly drastic images.

In the wake of Are We There , I Don't Want to Let You Down also received consistently good reviews: “ This five-song set makes the case that Van Etten is in a period of songwriting where all her music is essential, regardless of the package It's delivered in. ” Rolling Stone does not see the EP as a mere appendix to the last album:“ Her latest does what good EPs should: bushwhacks new paths. "For Carsten Wohlfeld even" these five songs are much more gripping and more real than many on the album ".

Remind Me Tomorrow

The fifth studio album by Van Etten takes new, more electronic musical paths and leaves the typical dramaturgy of the earlier songs. It was produced by John Cogleton, who u. a. has worked with Laurie Anderson , Marilyn Manson , Bono , St. Vincent and David Byrne . “ I just wanted to do something different. [...] I love the slow build - that's what I do. But I found that I was more drawn to the darkness and the driven synths and the syncopated beats. “The album begins with an almost classic piano ballad, but in the following Van Etten increasingly relies on synthesizers and powerful, driving electronic beats, without completely abandoning the melodic framework of old productions. Other songs, on the other hand, combine more or less melodic trip-hop with dark electronic ambient sounds. However, she has retained her love of harmony singing, with the support of Heather Woods Broderick throughout.

The feedback from the critics is again mostly positive. The album sets new standards for Rolling Stone : " Her fantastic new album [...] ups her ambitions even further, pushing toward a grand, smoldering vision of pop ". Pitchfork judges: “ It is the peak of her songwriting and her most atmospheric, emotionally piercing album to date .” On the other hand, the German Musikexpress criticizes the renouncement of melodies as in “Memorial Day”: “It's all about atmosphere, it is the first song by this great songwriter that you turn off annoyed. "

Discography

Albums

Because I Was in Love (2009, Language of Stone)
Epic (2010, BaDaBing Records)
Tramp (2012, Jagjaguwar)
Are We There (2014, Jagjaguwar)
I Don't Want to Let You Down (2015, Jagjaguwar) EP
(it was) because I was in love (Nov. 2017, digital and vinyl me please) Re-release of their debut album
Remind Me Tomorrow (2019, Jagjaguwar)

Singles

Much More Than That (2007) 7 ", vinyl (limited to 30 copies)
One Day (August 10, 2010, BaDaBing)
I'm Giving Up On You (September 10, 2010, Polyvinyl Record Company) 7 ", vinyl, limited.
Serpents (February 7, 2012, Jagjaguwar)
Leonard (2012, Jagjaguwar)
Give Out (Remix) (2012, Jagjaguwar) CD-R, promo
Stop Draggin 'My Heart Around - Shearwater & Sharon Van Etten (2013, Sub Pop)
We Are Fine (April 20, 2013, Jagjaguwar)
Taking Chances (2014, Jagjaguwar)
Our Love (2014, Jagjaguwar) CD-R, promo
Every Time The Sun Comes Up (2014, Jagjaguwar) CD-R, promo
I Don't Want To Let You Down / All Over Again (2015, Jagjaguwar) 7 ", vinyl (limited)