Review: It was a more poised and ready Sharon Van Etten at Salt Shed
Not that she hasn't been before, but perhaps the type and scope of her music made it more difficult for her to command the stage.
But with her band, the Attachment Theory, as evident at Friday night's set at the Salt Shed, audiences can now witness a more confident and self-assured version of Van Etten, one who is ready and perhaps eager to embody her true rock superstardom.
As a long-time fan, I wasn't quite sure what to think of this new direction, first heard on her self-titled record with her collaborative band, the Attachment Theory, released this February. But it's a pivotal moment in Van Etten's career. And it all comes together in the live show. This is not Sharon Van Etten pretending to be someone she is not. Instead, it is an artist embracing the person she was always meant to be, and doing it with a level of fun and flirty humor that encourages her audience to let loose.
There was no cell phone in sight as Van Etten and the Attachment Theory entered the stage and performed the opener 'Live Forever.' A hypnotic purple light show complemented Van Etten's elegiac voice that pierced through the track's spindly synths. 'Holy moly!' Van Etten exclaimed after the audience's rapturous applause. Van Etten's enthusiasm spilled over into the next track, 'Afterlife,' where she began walking around the stage and interacting with both the band and the audience. It was a perfect fit for this new music, which has a certain vibrancy that invigorates the ear.
On 'Idiot Box,' a post-punk stunner from her new record, Van Etten returned to her signature guitar. But she lets loose again on 'Comeback Kid,' from 2019's maximalist record 'Remind Me Tomorrow,' continuing to shake up the routine of her traditional stage shows. Van Etten leans into dancing. It's nothing too serious or refined but embodies a driving, propulsive energy, as if the mood of the track is running through her limbs. It's no wonder the infatuated audience began moving, too.
Van Etten is as much singer-songwriter as she is frontwoman as she is band leader. And the Attachment Theory, with all of its effortless bombast, is the perfect accompaniment for this new stage in her career. Sometimes it is other people who push us in the ways we need to be pushed.
If before she was often grouped in a community of millennial, indie rock singer-songwriters like Angel Olsen or Mitski, here Van Etten has proven that she is more than the assumptions of lazy music industry types who can't or won't see her for who she is. Take 'I Can't Imagine (Why You Feel This Way),' another track from her new record, a new wave-inspired sound inspired by David Byrne and the B-52s. Synth-driven and amusing, it's a sparkly and vivacious track that elicits a sparkly and vivacious performance.
There were slower moments, of course. 'Trouble,' with its steady cadence and unnerving musicality, served as a nice transition before the group performed more of Van Etten's older tracks. It's easy to get swept up into the emotions of her music, whether old or new. Fan favorites like 2014's 'Every Time the Sun Comes Up' and 'Tarifa,' (which she dedicated to filmmaker David Lynch) fit perfectly with her new music. Van Etten's siren-like melodies are evocative.
But more importantly, there's a throughline in this new music. It's cinematic and epic, a walloping collection of earthy soundscapes that home in on the intricacies and intimacies of life. Sometimes, that comes with a little bit of a groove and a dance, and sometimes it requires the listener to stand present and still. Either way, it's great stuff from an artist with many more surprises up her sleeve.
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