Mark E. Ortega
June 29, 2014
LOS ANGELES--Saturday night, Sharon Van Etten noted midway through her fourteen-song set to the packed crowd at the El Rey Theatre that she hadn't played Los Angeles in two years and was hopeful she redeemed herself from a previous performance.
Van Etten recalled that prior to that show, she had fought with her boyfriend and was glaring at him throughout her set, no doubt distracted. Van Etten could've had a Cat Power-esque meltdown at that last gig and her Saturday night return would have been more than enough to make up for it -- that is how good she was.
Van Etten played mostly tracks from her recently released album Are We There, which has made it onto many lists of 2014's best albums halfway through. Van Etten mesmerized the crowd with her often heartbreaking tunes, yet always managed to break up the heaviness with her light between song banter. Van Etten often found herself interacting with the crowd and having a good time with them, most often when coming after one of her more emotionally draining gems.
On her new album, Van Etten's songs are much fuller than in her earlier efforts where she utilized much less instrumentation behind her enchanting vocals. With a full band behind her, fans got the full effect. Songs "Afraid of Nothing", "Taking Chances" and "Break Me" are just a few of the songs that benefit from the extra production.
That isn't to say that the vocals weren't still the focal point. Van Etten and backup vocalists slash keyboardist slash tambourinist Heather Woods Broderick have immense chemistry and that was always at the forefront of any song they played on Saturday. In "Nothing Will Change", the two trade turns singing "I will reach you" in an incredibly addicting way.
Van Etten has only gotten stronger as a vocalist since I first saw her at Outside Lands Music Festival a few years ago in San Francisco (ironically, SVE once said in an interview she didn't feel like her music fit the festival atmosphere. I'll have to disagree having come into her set having known little of her and having left with her floating around in my head more than anyone else).
Though Van Etten's lyrics are often bleak and daunting, her glee and delight was very apparent from the outset. Van Etten is enjoying a career year and perhaps some of that joy is derived from the fact that she's already proven wrong those that doubted her at the beginning.
"You enjoy sucking on dreams / so I will fall asleep with someone other than you / I had a thought you would take me / seriously and listen but.." Van Etten sang in "Serpent", one of the few older songs she played on Saturday.
"People say I'm a one-hit wonder / but what happens when I have two?" Van Etten asked in her set closer "Every Time the Sun Comes Up", the first single from her new album.
There is no doubt we are already finding out what happens, Sharon. You deliver one of the more memorable LA performances of 2014.
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