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Preview Tue Apr 05 2011
Preview: Sharon Van Etten @ Lincoln Hall 4/9
Sharon Van Etten at Pitchfork Music Festival, 2010 (Photo by George Aye)
Love and loss are popular lyrical themes. OK, that may be a complete understatement and possibly too broad. Rephrased: lost love is an extremely popular lyrical theme. Despite the overuse of the theme, very few female vocalists are able to authentically portray romantic melancholy like Sharon Van Etten portrays romantic melancholy — and certainly without her acute self-examination. She prettily sings of betrayal, obsession, egotism and all the other emotions people hate in themselves and see in others. Her songs are simply structured, letting the impact of the words fill the space.
Sharon Van Etten credits such singer-songwriters as PJ Harvey and '60s-'70s singer-songwriter Vashti Bunyan and the British folk singer Anne Briggs as being influential in her sound. More modern reference points tend to be the aforementioned Harvey and Cat Power.
Van Etten will be singing at Lincoln Hall with openers Little Scream and In Tall Buildings on Saturday, April 9th. Tickets are $14. Showtime is 9pm. Lincoln Hall is located at 2424 N. Lincoln Ave, 773-525-2501.
