Sharon Van Etten should consider herself lucky to have a whole album that so clearly documents her growth as an artist. It’s like looking at an old book of photographs and realizing how far you’ve come; Van Etten has publically displayed her personal struggle through her music, and now gets to listen to the progression of her talent. Though Tramp is meant to chronicle the transient lifestyle Van Etten was living throughout its creation, I hear only the voice of a mature artist who’s undergone a sort of evolution. It sounds like the work of someone rooted solidly to the ground for the first time in a long time.
A singer/songwriter based out of Brooklyn, Van Etten has slowly been building a reputation for herself over the past few years. First pegged as a talent to watch by TV on the Radio’s Kyp Malone, she won critical acclaim and a small but devoted following with her 2009 album Because I Was in Love, 2010’s Epic, and opening stints for The Antlers and Neko Case. Last summer she signed with Jagjaguwar, a label with a roster of prominent indie-folk performers. I enjoy that her music really doesn’t fit in a particular niché but believe that with production by The National’s Aaron Dessner, and guest appearances by prominent artists such as Beirut, this album will move her distinctly forward towards relative “fame.”
That being said, Sharon is the root of her own success and Tramp is still her album. The production serves to support her vocal ability, which in itself is tremendously expressive, powerful, and seductive (usually all the same time). Fortunately, she and Dessner knew better than to overwhelm it while still managing to give the album a richer sound than her sparse first record. I was really worried that Van Etten would be washed out entirely with all of the newfound accompaniment on this album, but tracks like “Magic Chords” really display the complexity of her songwriting and her transcendent vocal ability. And lyrically, this album and track have teeth; Van Etten’s writing is minimalistic but direct and able to immediately connect with the listener on a personal level. “Magic Chords” is elegant and sexy, pained and hopeful, the ballad of a scorned jazz singer attempting to find hope in a hopeless world. The inflection of her voice speaks volumes, and her slightly pained tone keeps you right there with her, word for word, waiting to hear what she’ll come up with next.