Photos: Sharon Van Etten at High Water Festival
Riverfront Park • N. Charleston, SC • April 24, 2022
Sharon Van Etten is an American singer-songwriter. She has released five studio albums, the latest of which is Remind Me Tomorrow (2019).
She cites Ani DiFranco as a key influence, saying, “She was the first musician I had ever heard whose songs were super confessional. She could really play guitar… That was my first experience with non-pop female musicians. She made me want to start playing more.”
Sharon Van Etten posses a contralto vocal range, which Caleb Caldwell of Slant described as “husky”. NPR described her vocals as raspy, elegant and luminous, while Consequence called it “earthy”. Van Etten’s music is characterized by a heavy use of harmonies. Pitchfork described her songs as having “echoes of folk tradition.” NPR Music asserts: “Her songs are heartfelt without being overly earnest; her poetry is plainspoken but not overt, and her elegant voice is wrapped in enough rasp and sorrow to keep from sounding too pure or confident.” With “Comeback Kid” and Remind Me Tomorrow, Van Etten introduced electronic sounds into her music. She has said, “I listen to a lot of OMD… I’m into a lot of the new post-punk electronic stuff.”
Sharon Van Etten perform live in concert this past weekend during the High Water Festival in N. Charleston, SC. And we were there to see her performance.
