Review Thu Jun 06 2013

Sharon Van Etten Teaches us to Love More @ Millennium Park, 6/3

By Sarah Brooks

Monday evening at Millennium Park brought about Chicagoans looking to experience the Downtown Sound series for the first time this year...in nice(r) weather, that is. The first installment the week prior featured gloomy weather that seemed unshakeable. The sunshine and temperate climate on Monday brought out herds of Chicagoans looking to experience Speck Mountain and Sharon Van Etten's music in this beautiful city we call home.

Speck Mountain opened the show with a relaxed yet emotive set, perfectly staged with a city skyline backdrop. Their fuzzy space rock and slight shoegaze style echoed out into the crowd, furrowing into our senses as the chords reverberated beautifully from the guitar and vocal conversations. Emerging onto the scene in 2005 and playing many songs off of their recent album Badwater, Speck Mountain has an interesting quality of blending dreamy female vocals with an atmospheric background. Both combined create an amalgam of an ambient landscape, serene and visionary. Evoking a different era, their psychadelic riffs were the perfect way to open up Monday's Millennium Park show, as the sun sunk below the buildings we faced. It almost felt like I was in a mesmerized state, listening to the soundtrack of a hazy dream. A local group as well, hailing from Brooklyn but settling in Chicago, Speck Mountain has made quite the name for themselves in this city, and will only continue to develop with time.

Sharon Van Etten emerged to her crowd of reverent listeners clad in a jean jacket and subtle white dress. While initially addressing the audience with a "hello, Chicago" with gusto, her voice was meek and subdued, brimming with innocence and sweetness. However, when she began singing the first notes of "Peace" her powerhouse voice emerged, rumbling out from Millennium Park and beyond. Her music is much like a fine wine; at its first chord and initial onset, the song is sweet and subtle. However, over time, with more sips, the music becomes more and more developed, cultivated, and rich. It lingers not only in our senses, but seems to reach into our soul.

The songwriter is wise beyond her years. Lyrics telling tales of heart-wrenching emotions, our deepest desires and fears, and the struggle of simply being human blending with the perfect backdrop can melt away all of our sorrows. Hearing her music in the Millennium Park setting only aids the emotive response that it produces - watching the glittering skyline in the background, looking around at the smiling faces intently watching the songstress effortlessly croon songs full of depth and heart could make the coldest heart defrost in the evening light.

The set wound through material from her full-length albums in a cohesive fashion, spanning both 2010's Epic and 2012's Tramp. Watching Sharon transform from gently smiling and waving at the massive crowd seated before her, to sinking into the music and leaning into the microphone with such urgency as her voice trails out into the distance was such a dichotomy, as she truly is in her element when she sings and shares her ballads with the world.

"This song is about not being perfect," she stated prior to the first opening chords of "All I Can." Sharon's music truly presents us with our greatest triumphs and defeats, and how to pick ourselves up in between the two. After her last tune, Sharon stepped off stage, and individuals in the audience flooded the spaces directly in front, awaiting her return. She delighted the crowd of doting fans to both "In Line" and "Love More." I can't quite explain it, but the feelings that "Love More" evokes could truly make one see the beauty of life and those around them in this world. The accordion lulling softly in the background in concert with Sharon's voice building tension and being joined by more voices and instrumental feedback created the perfect soundtrack for a blissful night in Chicago.