Tramp, the latest release from American singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten, is an impressive record. Vulnerable yet confident, Van Etten’s folk-indebted indie rock has earned her a legion of loyal fans that includes some high-profile artists like The National’s Aaron Dessner (who recorded and produced Tramp) and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon. I connected with Sharon through cellular telephone – the wonders of technology! – while she was driving through the mountains en route to Columbus.
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What was the moment that made you feel like you’ve really
accomplished something with your music?
One of the reasons I write is ‘cause I am not really good at
talking about my emotions, so I have to sing it out, write it out. Once someone
came up to me at a show, came up to shake my hand – he looked me in the eye and
he was really teary. He made me all teary eyed! He was like, “it’s
really nice to hear somebody that’s trying to communicate with you and that’s
trying to express something emotional and genuine,” saying that it helped them
get through a time “when I didn’t know how to communicate my emotions.” Just
like learning how to be okay. That was a really emotional moment.
What was it like making you first national TV debut on Late
Night with Jimmy Fallon, playing to that vast TV audience?
Yeah, that was really nerve-wracking. You kind of have to
visualize (laughs) your audience and not be so scared that it’s that many, you
know? But at least I have people in the audience, even though it feels a little
weird that they’re kind of prompted to clap and you’re prompted to be ‘on.’ I’m
glad it was only one song and not a whole show (laughs)
There’s an often-mentioned live performance of your song “Love
More” that [Bon Iver's] Justin Vernon played with [The National’s] Aaron
Dessner. Is that where your collaboration with Aaron stemmed from?
Definitely. I was on tour with Megafun
and they woke me up to show me this video, and I was moved to tears. I was
about to go to the studio to record Epic – that’s my last record – so I
reached out to them to see if they wanted to be involved, because “Love More”
was a single at the time and it was going to be put on this record. They were
making genius records at the time so (laughs) they didn’t have time to come
out. But Aaron still offered us – when I was ready to start demoing songs –
that he had a garage studio in his backyard and that he would love to help me
out. So maybe six months late, after I recorded Epic, I sent him some
demos and he liked them. We met up for coffee and we just talked about music,
how we liked to work and what our future plans were. We met up a few times over
coffee, playing each other’s songs and talking about our philosophies and our
styles. By the time he got to having about thirty of my demos, he started
laughing and was like, “you have a record already, let’s just record the
record, you don’t need to demo anymore.” And we started working together within
the year.
The lyrics on Tramp have a strong poetic base, and the
music has often been compared to Leonard Cohen in its simplicity. Is that who
the song “Leonard” is named after?
A: Yes! Good on you! I listened to a lot of
Leonard Cohen when I wrote this song. Originally this song was called “Kevin 2”
but I didn’t want to have two songs named “Kevin” on there. But at the time, I
was floating around a lot and I was naming the demos after where I was staying
so I could have a timeline to kind of to refer back to the song more easily. So
the songs “Kevin” and “Kevin 2” were changed because I was listening to a lot
of Leonard Cohen.
You’ve been quoted as saying “sadness isn’t an emotion that most
cool bands want to talk about.” Why do you feel that way?
I guess
people think of it as weak sometimes. But I feel it’s a strength to open
yourself up and be vulnerable, and allow yourself that moment. I think a lot of
– sorry, that’s the GPS talking right now (laughs) – but I think it’s important
to be in tune with your emotions and – sorry, I’m getting distracted cause
we’re lost I think, oh sorry there’s four people talking around me (background
yelling) – but yeah, I think there’s a lot of pop music that I love and I think
sometimes being emotional is seen as being a wuss or something. But I think it
takes a strong person to be able to talk about being sad or having a weak
moment.
Below: “Serpents” from Tramp:
- Five Questions with Afie Jurvanen of Bahamas
- Five Questions with Kathryn Calder
- Sharon Jones Finds Success By Learning The Hard Way
- Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings — I Learned the Hard Way
- Sharon Jones Appearing On… Michael Buble Album?!
