Sharon Van Etten kicked off her U.S. tour, (is she international?) this past Wednesday with a sold out show at Sinclair. The tour is in support of her latest record Are We There? A philosophical title that leaves a lot of questions to be asked of the singer-songwriter based out of Brooklyn. Most importantly, what is the differentiator between Sharon and other artists of the singer-songwriter genre that seems to get easily pigeonholed? The two singles receiving heavy airplay got me to this show because of their honest and poignant lyrics, but aren’t those words used to describe almost everyone in this genre? I couldn’t help but think of Brandi Carlisle, or Feist, or Ani and a plethora of other artists that have come along with the same kind of approach towards creating and writing music.
Recognizing these preconceived judgments, I tried to approach the show with an open mind and before the show even began Sharon’s fan base caught me off guard. First off, I think I was the only straight man in the audience. There wasn’t anything wrong with all of this except about 99% of Sharon’s songs seem to be about this terrible ex-boyfriend she had that crushed her creativity and was a real chauvinist pig. So when I accidentally tripped over a few people making my way to the bar, I started to get looks like it was me! Is this in my head? Is this a secret boyfriend-haters club? But god bless this ex-boyfriend of hers, whoever he is, because he motivated her to make this sweet music and is getting a verbal beat down every night she performs these songs. It almost seems like all of her songs are written as a vengeful solace and effort to prove to her that she made the right decision for breaking up with this god-awful man, and did she ever. Good for you Sharon. You go, girl.
Despite the lyricism, which is the focus of any singer songwriters show, Sharon’s voice is beautiful, but what highlights it this great voice is even better harmonies made with keyboardist, singer Heather Woods Broderick. Her bandmate is such an important part of what makes Sharon great that it’s almost a shame that SVE takes the name of the band. One would have to believe she would have a very hard time standing out in the over-crowded female singer songwriter genre without these magnificent harmonies made with her partner in crime.
The just over an hour set was full of the honest, emotional songs that pour out of Sharon like an intimate journal of heartache and pain, sunshine and rain, (see what I did there). The crowd howled when she sang about “doing dishes and taking a shit.” I appreciated the taking a poop lyrics, finally something I could relate to. Despite what some hardcore SVE fans might think, and there were plenty, the best songs of the night were the those recent singles (Taking Chances, and Every time the Sun Comes Up) and not just because they were the only ones I knew beforehand, but they were the only ones that had the full band playing soulfully together and were possibly not about the terrible ex-boyfriend.
In other words, if you recently broke up with your man because he’s crushing all your creativity and dreams and is verbally abusive, (maybe you are lazy and messy) then this show was for you! If you’re looking for something a little less serious, and a little more worldly than just love songs then try to find a ticket to Courtney Barnett next week. All this show did was get me excited to see the little rock n’ roll Aussie coming to town June 18.
Nashville based singer, songwriter Torres opened the show and commanded a presence playing a dark echoey Gretsch electric guitar. A bold move for a singer songwriter to play electric by herself, but the tones she was getting out of it rang out right along with her voice and meshed really well. She was a delight to start the night off and when she played with her three piece band took on a feminist Neil Young vibe. I was totally digging this.