Sharon Van Etten is a New York based singer-songwriter, who used to write mostly in the folk/rock genre, but as of late, has been exploring styles more along the lines of 80s pop, incorporating more hard hitting drums and synthesizers. I had the chance to see her at the Imperial on the corner of Main and East Hastings on Feb 22nd.
The opening act was Nilüfer Yanya was from London England. Nilüfer brought an odd breed of indie rock combined with R&B. Nilüfer’s vocals were smoky, almost lazy, but well practiced. Her older compositions from the Do You Like Pain EP were bare, with drums coming in rarely in choruses, and spare embellishments from keyboards and saxophone A good example of her older of music can be seen in her song Baby Luv, in which she sings of love troubles, being cheated. At the show played some songs that would come out with her newest album Miss Universe, released in march after the show. On the new record is going in a rock-ier direction, check out her song In Your Head, she sounds almost like the Strokes in the best way possible. I would highly recommend Nilüfer, she has a refreshing sound.
After Nilüfer Yanya, Sharon played a lot of her new songs, as one would touring a new album. Sharon Van Etten has always had very interesting sound, heavily rooted from her very mature, smoky vocals, and the way she paces her singing. In her newest album Remind Me Tomorrow, she sounded much more energetic and confident compared to her older work, writing songs reminiscing of younger years, and coming to terms of the past.
Sharon played a lot of the new songs off of her newest album. She remembers of being a teen through seeing teenagers running about New York in the song Seventeen, as well as witnessing the city’s changes over the fifteen years she’s been there. In the song Comeback Kid, she sings of visiting family and feeling like a kid again in parents’ eyes. Both these songs clock in at a medium danceable tempo propelled by a kick snare kick snare beat (stadium beat?), the topics may seem dull but Sharon performed them triumphantly, it’s a refreshing change from her mellower past.
Taking a quick change of pace, the song Jupiter 4 is by far the most atmospheric in Sharon’s discography. Named after the synthesizer behind much of the album, the song is a haunting ballad, featuring a heavy bass ostinato and ghostly embellishments whose origin was mysterious to me. It may not be as punchy a song as the rest of the show, but the way the music envelopes her singing is quite remarkable.
The show wouldn’t be complete if Sharon didn’t play any of the oldies. On the song Tarifa, Sharon played guitar like she used to. The song is about her reminiscent of a moment of love in the sunset. The song is melancholic, sung mostly over strummed guitar, the backing band provided tasteful embellishments and fills over verses, and is appropriately grand over choruses.
Sharon played a quite a few other songs, a few notable songs include Every Time the Sun Comes up, in which she sings of the mundane rituals of daily life, as well as the song You Shadow, in which she sings ‘You don’t do nothing I don’t do, you shadow’, coming off very sassy, almost disrespectful, talking about being copied and shadowed. The only negative of the show was I wished she played the song ‘Taking My Chances’, which I was expecting as the song was fairly popular. It was a great show overall, I’d recommend everyone to check out both Sharon Van Etten and Nilüfer Yanya.