SOUNDTRACK: SHARON VAN ETTEN-Tiny Desk Concert #899 (October 7, 2019).
It
was Sharon Van Etten’s 2010 Tiny Desk Concert that introduced me to her. I was blown away by the songs from Epic.
When Sharon Van Etten made her Tiny Desk debut back in the fall of 2010 [with about fifteen people in the audience], her voice exuded fragile, gentle grace. Performing songs from that year’s Epic, she huddled around a single acoustic guitar with backup singer Cat Martino to perform a set of tender and evocative folk-pop songs.
Sharon released a couple more albums and then took some time away from music. She returned this year with the appropriately named comeback single “Comeback Kid.” The big difference was that now there were synths!
Cut to nearly a decade later. One of only a handful of artists to get a repeat headlining engagement at the Tiny Desk [that handful is getting bigger and bigger it seems]. Van Etten has spent the last few years purging her bucket list: She’s become an actress (appearing as a guest star on The OA), released a string of increasingly aggressive albums (the latest of which is this year’s synth-driven Remind Me Tomorrow), toured the world, performed on Twin Peaks, written music for films, become a mom, gone back to school and popped up in collaborations with everyone from Land of Talk to Jeff Goldblum.
I had no idea that these things happened. So good for her, I guess.
It’s only natural that this Tiny Desk concert feels different; you can hear it before Van Etten and her band even show up onscreen. Its pace set by the ticking beat of a drum machine, “Comeback Kid” is in full bloom here, with a swaying arrangement that fills the room before Van Etten opens her mouth.
“Comeback Kid” is super catchy. It sounds similar to the recorded version although a little smaller, perhaps. There’s also a few extra keyboard flourishes from Heather Woods Broderick (who played the Tiny Desk as a member of Horse Feathers way back in 2009). Charley Damski plays the synth washes that fill the room. Sharon plays acoustic guitar and sings with serious intensity.
“You Shadow” starts with bass (Devin Hoff) and a drum machine (Jorge Balbi). There’s no guitar on this track, but Sharon’s voice sounds great:
the singer performs with considerable intensity here, seething through “You Shadow.”
She quietly thanks everyone and introduces the band. This moment of thanks and appreciation in no way prepares you for the intensity in which she sings the set-closing “Seventeen.”
The song also starts with synth and bass. Sharon sings but doesn’t start playing acoustic guitar until after the first verse. Everyone adds gorgeous backing vocals for the chorus. Then Sharon starts getting intense while singing. Normally “la la las” are kind of upbeat, but she comes out of them with a fire as she sings “with a scream that slashes through the office air.”
Her voice almost breaks and she seems to be quite moved by the performance. It’s really tremendous.
I admit that I like her earlier stuff better–the way she sang, the way her backing singers complimented her and the intensity of her music. But after seeing her live this summer and now watching this, her intensity is still there–it’s just used more sparingly and appropriately.
The only downside to this Tiny Desk is that Heather Woods Broderick–who is an amazing backing vocalist–is pretty subdued here. It’s appropriately subdued in this setting, but it’s a shame to not hear her in full.
Here (left) is a picture from Sharon’s first Tiny Desk Concert.
[READ: November 7, 2019] “The Flier”
This story was very cool.
I really loved the way the entire story totally downplayed “one of the most wondrous occurrences in the history of humankind.”
It begins with the narrator explaining that his wife Viki had invited their friends Pam and Becky over: “short notice–but there’s something we’d like to talk over with you.”
As he describes the meal he’s made, in quite a lot of detail, Pam and Becky arrive. The narrator hears them talk about him and he acknowledges that his illness has made him small and light.
After the pleasantries are over, Viki says matter-of-factly that the narrator “has developed the ability to fly.” (more…)
SOUNDTRACK: CITY AND COLOUR-“Strangers” (2019).
City and Colour is Dallas Green (get it?). He was part of the rocking band Alexisonfire. He went solo about fifteen years ago and has settled into the sort of indie folk troubadour life.
SOUNDTRACK: LOU REED-“A Gift” (1976).
This “soft rock” song features a slow guitar song with shuffle beat as Reed speaks his mind.
SOUNDTRACK: U.N.K.L.E.-“Ar.Mour” (2019).
Having learned that U.N.K.L.E. had not only been making music all of these years but even put out a new album this year, I thought I’d listen to something new and see what it was like.
SOUNDTRACK: U.N.K.L.E.–“Rabbit in Your Headlights” (1998).
I was looking for a “rabbit” song to include with this story and I remembered this one from U.N.K.L.E., an album I had completely forgotten about.
SOUNDTRACK: KAWABATA MAKOTO [河端一]-INUI 1 (2000).
Kawabata Makoto [河端一] is the guitarist and mastermind behind Acid Mothers Temple. The band is hugely prolific. But he still had time to record solo albums. Often times without any guitar.
SOUNDTRACK: RADIOHEAD-“Paperbag Writer” (2004).
I Just Read About That... 