Sharon Van Etten: This lady is no Tramp

If the highlights of 2012’s musical offering involved bitching about Lana Del Ray’s face, swagging with Odd Future, or simply dancing like a drunk antelope to a Korean pop mega-hit, then I fear the album of the last year has passed you by like a proverbial leaf in a stream. Sharon Van Etten’s third album Tramp was a piece of the purest beauty which had the critics purring but may have failed to make a nest in the public consciousness. Miss Van Etten’s record is more delicate and fragile than anything created by the nymph-like Laura Marling and she has just as many connections to Brooklyn cool as Karen O, so I find it a travesty that it did not feature more highly on album of the year lists. I jumped at the opportunity to review her recent show at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire, and boy, I wasn’t let down!

The night started off with two newer songs ‘AllI Can’ and ‘Warsaw’ which set the tone for a fantastic evening. At first glance, the Brooklyn based singer seemed a little intimidated by the surroundings and she apologised for having a cold, but by the end of the night the packed out venue was eating from the palm of her hands. Having only recently become aware of her, I was not familiar with the older songs but numbers like ‘Save Yourself’ and ‘Don’t Do It’ were very refreshing and gave her a heavy, grungier live sound. For all the beautiful melodies and swooning guitars, my highlights were her lyrics; Tramp is an album based in heartache and breakups and there is no venom spared. One cannot help being taken aback by the overwhelming honesty and bitterness of ‘Serpents’ when the lines “You enjoy sucking on dreams, so I will fall asleep, with someone other than you” are uttered. I found myself becoming immersed in her fragile, bittersweet world in ‘Ask’ where Sharon whispers “like cigarette ash, [my world] is collapsing around me”.

Before the show, I knew how strong Van Etten’s recent releases were, but what I was not prepared for was how accomplished a live performer she has become. Her beautifully lilting voice reminds me of the late Jeff Buckley and there is not much higher praise than that. I left Shepherd’s Bush with a smile on my face, and I noticed that every other person exiting the venue sported exactly the same expression; we had all seen something very special, and we knew it.