Dec 21, 2010
SHARE THISSHARON VAN ETTEN ON WORLD CAFE
December 21, 2010
Intimate and hushed, Sharon Van Etten's folk tunes tend to quiet any room she plays them in. These are the type of nuanced songs that can render a crowd breathless.
Van Etten was introduced to an eclectic blend of folk and rock 'n' roll while growing up in Nashville. She worked her way to Brooklyn, and after a national tour in support of her debut album, Because I Was In Love, she turned to Epic, a seven-song LP that was one of NPR Music's favorite records of 2010.
Lined with melancholic heartbreak, Van Etten bears it all — the betrayal, the obsession, and everything that comes along with collapsed romances. But where there is dark, there is also light, and she is not afraid to demonstrate her hopeful side. Epic is definitely an album beaming with learned experiences and growth, leaving every listener with something to take away.
With guitar in hand, she was this year's first featured artist in the Shaking Through music series from WXPN and the non-profit Philadelphia organization Weathervane Music. It was there that she recorded "Love More," the moving finale to Epic.
KEXP LIVE VIDEO: SHARON VAN ETTEN
By JON HARTHUN | Published: DECEMBER 21, 2010
Emerging through an entirely too crowded genre of indie singer-songwriters, Sharon Van Etten meandered into our studios, and maybe in the process, into your hearts. The Brooklyn-based Van Etten conjures up simple, wide-eyed tunes in the vein of local acts Brandi Carlile and Jesse Sykes, but it's the unique, raw quality of her voice that will endear her to you. Her second studio album, Epic, released in September on Ba Da Bing, is seeing many a year-end nod from handfuls of critics and bloggers alike.
If her name is not familiar, you might recognize her voice from the Antlers' track “Thirteen” off their much buzzed-about 2009 album, Hospice. Van Etten's own album has been described as “the first step to establishing her as one of the best confessional singer-songwriters around” (Washington Post). Though she still has some catching up to do with the best of her female predecessors, the young Brooklyn-based singer has got the ball rolling, fast. Watch out!