Sharon Van Etten was opening for Junip on Sunday night at the Music Box, as she is touring with them since November 1st, and very happy about it. On stage, Sharon seems comfortable, talkative (or may be all the talking was to mask some nervousness?) but definitively charming and friendly. She jokes about her bad breath after an onion-loaded meal she had the same day, or about the chocolate she had in San Francisco, truffled with ‘something bad in it’ (Marijuana?), ‘I’m such a newb’ she said while laughing.
She is touring to promote her new album ‘Epic’ and she does not hesitate to go behind the table of her booth to sell herself CDs, vinyl, and t-shirts after the show, greeting her already numerous fans, and I am pretty sure many people were attending the show for her and not for Junip.
With her eyes lost in some vague horizon, she began her set alone with her guitar to play the angry tune ‘A crime’, then was joined on stage by her two musicians for musically richer versions of ‘Peace sign’, the country flirting ‘Save yourself’, the powerful ‘Don’t do it’ (as if Aimee Mann had a deeper and fuller voice), and her mom’s favorite, ‘One day’, a very catchy and upbeat tune which should have already launched her into the mainstream scene if people knew to look for themselves.
She may be playing guitar but her very expressive and stunning voice is definitively her best instrument; live, she sings with a complete clarity and brightness, dominating the other instruments with an impressive range, her vocals expressing emotions that could go from regret, pain or determination.
She did a few songs using an accordion on a table, because, she said, she was too lazy to hold it. The very slow and peaceful ‘Love more’, with its ethereal melody and vocals, a little Jonsi-like, installed a warm and soothing cover over the crowd.
She ended up her set by an acoustic version of the delicate ‘consolation prize’, which was full of unheard subtleties coming from her effortless vocals and ‘Much more than that’ from her album ‘Because I was In Love’, a request from the crowd, a couple in love, as she noticed.
She said in an interview that music is like self-therapy for her, so it is tempting to receive her very personal and sincere songs as a confession, but don’t be foul by her quiet and peaceful music, it is not fragile and defeated, it is rather very loud and strong, coming straight from the inside.