It’s kind of hard to get a handle on just how big a deal Sharon Van Etten is these days. The new album “Tramp’ introduced me to an artist of whom I had previously heard their name at best, and yet she seemed to arrive a fully formed star in the indie firmament. For sure, she is signed to Jagjaguwar, which brings cred in itself, but there’s more than that. There is a whole back story of how the album was recorded in Aaron Dessner’s garage in Brooklyn, with the National man taking production credits, all this whilst Sharon was reputedly homeless, or at least sofa surfing. It is probably nigh on impossible to move in those sorts of circles, in the hipster epicentre of New York, without the kind of buzz that now surrounds Van Etten. And then again, at SXSW this year, I queued through Fiona Apple‘s preceding set to get to the final, headlining act of the night on the NPR showcase stage, that being Sharon of course. The buzz continued, as the following night J Mascis turned up in her audience, joining the band for one song, before becoming an unofficial member for the whole set later in the week. Tonight, in Manchester’s Deaf Institute, there were a dozen people queueing early waiting for doors, and the promoters had only been able to hold back 20 tickets for the door.
In the circumstances, there is only one thing to do, and that is resolutely stick to the music.
The openers were 2 very diverse and hugely interesting acts. First up was Oregon native Marisa Anderson, for whom the mic stand was purely and simply to enable inter-song banter, the performance being entirely instrumental on guitar and lap steel. In amongst the original material, she covered Blind Willie McTell, and his ragtime blues tag is a pretty fair litmus for Anderson’s own work. As a counterpoint for the vocal delights to come, she was an inspired choice.
Next up were Exitmusic, and having been utterly lax about checking these things in advance, this was an exciting surprise. Aleksa Palladino and Devon Church bring a tense dynamic to the stage, the star of the show being Aleksa’s voice, way down there in some underground bunker. Their debut LP is out this week and I for one can’t wait for it.
Tonight though was very definitely about Sharon. I’d been parked on the front corner of the stage all the way through, and having been entranced by Exitmusic, I was a bit shocked to turn round and find an absolutely packed room crammed close behind and breathing down my neck.
With a full band in tow, Sharon was all charm and genuine engagement with the audience. She first had to sort out the height of the mic stand, having, as she explained, changed into some pretty darn high heels since soundcheck.
She opened with ‘All I Can’ which is off the new album, as were a total of 10 of tonight’s 11 songs. I’m not complaining in the slightest. Having burrowed through the back catalogue, this year’s offering is where most of the treasure lies, although it would have been gorgeous to have experienced the rock-out of ‘Peace Signs’, and in fact to hear any older songs treated to the new sense of wilful abandon that now seems to pervade her work. The one older song ‘Don’t Do It’ came from her 2010 album ‘Epic’, although she referred to it as her “90s song”.
The rest of the band were Heather Woods Broderick, Doug Keith and Zeke Hutchins. Heather chipped in to the stage banter to a surprisingly small degree, having seen them before when it was more or less the ‘Sharon and Heather Show’, repartee-wise at least. Heather brought some wonderful moments though, not least in setting up looped vocal layering, to hover long moments before the rest of the song dripped in like honey from a spoon.
Sharon is pretty comfortable wearing her heart on her sleeve, given that her stock in trade is tales of relationships gone off the rails. Despite the degree of repeat that ‘Tramp’ has seen on my stereo, I had the smallest moment of confusion when she introduced ‘Leonard’ by declaring it to be a cheery upbeat song, and therefore against the grain. It made sense though moments later when I found myself quietly singing to the repeated refrain of “I love you….”
Whatever personal highs and depressive lows she has mined for her current, brilliant slew of work, she was cheery and chatty tonight, telling us some rambling story about when she had been to Manchester before, 4 years ago as a solo artist, and a robot winning the fancy dress competition, as though this was somehow untoward. What, was it a real robot, entering the competition unfairly? It was as random as it was charming.
When she mentioned that a song had been written while trying to give up a man and cigarettes both at the same time, someone asked which she missed most. The cigarettes of course. The audience were well and truly eating out of hand, mouthing the words back to her, and there was a moment of geeky over-devotion from some guys near me, who several times asked for ‘Serpents demo version’. That’s too obscure even for me, and Sharon looked the tiniest bit confused too, not least as they carried asking for it after she had played ‘Serpents’ (non-demo version), a song that has future classic stamped all over it.
Despite the printed set list, the one song encore was ‘Magic Chords’. To stick strictly to the music and forget the hype, I have to admit a preference to the songs were Sharon straps on the electric guitar, with all the added drive that brings, although it was clear tonight that the folkier numbers have as many devotees. It was a beautiful, well modulated set, helped by the careful choice of opening acts, and the night was made more special and comfortable by all the musicians, Sharon included, being happy to hang out at the end and chat.
The hype and buzz are evidently and clearly justified.
Exitmusic
Exitmusic
Exitmusic
Marisa Anderson
Marisa Anderson
