Sharon Van Etten, currently touring with Junip, is attached to the folk tradition. Her songs are easy to like, with a lot of acoustic strumming guitar, some organ at times, a little bit of percussion, and harmonious, delicate but bright layered vocals wrapped in a more or less peaceful and quiet melody. To be honest I have mostly listened to ‘For You’ and ‘One day’, and there was no effort at all to like these ones with lyrics that connect immediately to the personal part of your brain, the one that talks about failed relationships and bad endings.
She is someone who brings attention to the melodies, she focuses on their melancholic beauty, and her voice has the smoothness of Joan Baez’ or the brightness of Beth Orthon’s.
Despite the pretty voice, there is some toughness and a real confidence in ‘One day’, which would seem to come from someone who has released tons of songs, I don’t know, the kind of voice, fragile and strong at the same time, that forces you to pay attention when you are busy at doing something else.
After ending a bad long-term relationship, she left Tennessee to go to Jersey with her parents, then to Brooklyn where she now lives, and she has just put out this year her first major release ‘Epic’, after the self-released ‘Because I Was In Love’. But with artists like Bon Iver and The National covering her songs, and Aimee Mann an avowed fan, she probably doesn’t need more introduction.