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The Lowdown: Interview with Sharon Van Etten

"When you first start out it’s a little scary, but I’ve met some really amazing people and they are so supportive"

by jacob_wyatt, July 23rd, 2012 and has been Read 1063 times.
Last Edited by: Ffion Davies July 23rd, 2012.

Sharon Van Etten could be classed as a singer/songwriter, though is rockier than your typical Jack Johnson or Newton Faulkner. She released her third album, Tramp, back in February - it was produced by Aaron Dessner of The National and featured many guest performances, such as Zach Condon of Beirut singing on the track, 'We Are Fine'. AltSounds caught her at Latitude festival after her stunning set kicked off the Saturday.

LISTEN// 'We are Fine'

AltSounds: You went down well this morning, what sort of response have you had in the UK so far?
Sharon Van Etten: The UK shows are some of our favourite shows to play - everywhere we go, there are really funny audiences, you know. They like to tell jokes while I’m playing and there is a lot of banter back and forth usually. We always have a good time here.

AltSounds: Do you feel like Tramp was the album that broke you out this side of the Atlantic?
Sharon Van Etten: Well, this is the most I’ve ever toured over here, for sure. I got to tour a little of here last year but, yeah, I would say this is the most I’ve ever played over here.

AltSounds: Seeing that it’s your grandest album, why is it called Tramp?
Sharon Van Etten: I like doing a play on words a lot of the time and so I like puns and jokes, but I also like really simple words, and 'tramp' has many definitions. One definition of the word 'tramp', it’s like one of the original definitions, means to travel around a lot, it’s to be without a home. Over the course of recording the record, I was staying in family houses, friends’ house and subletting, in between touring constantly - that was one of the reasons.

Also, I like Charlie Chaplin a lot, and he is like the original tramp, as they call him. Finally, I think it’s funny that when you use the word 'tramp' for a female it’s sort of derogatory, while with a man it’s seen as endearing and charming. I don’t necessarily have a stance on it; I just wanted to bring attention to it.

AltSounds: What was it like having Tramp produced by Aaron Dessner of the National?
Sharon Van Etten: Aaron is amazing! It was really just like I brought songs to him, we worked on them together and he helped me build upon them. I was just like hanging out with my brother and playing music. I actually miss getting to see him now.

AltSounds: Do you feel honoured that The National played one of your songs, Love More, at last year’s Latitude?
Sharon Van Etten: I didn’t know that they played that here at Latitude, haha! I remember, when I first decided to reach out to them it was because Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver), Aaron and Bryce (Bryce Dessner of The National) covered it at their festival in Cincinnati, Ohio. My friend sent me a YouTube link of them covering it, and it made me really emotional to think that people, whose records I buy, are buying mine too.

WATCH// 'Love More' live with Aaron Dessner

AltSounds: On Tramp you had quite a lot of collaborations with other artists, and then you’ve done work on other people’s albums as well, do you feel like you’re part of a community rather than a lone artist?
Sharon Van Etten: Defiantly! One of things about living in New York is that so many bands come through New York, and so many bands live in New York and work really hard. The more that you get into the music scene there, I feel like it is a small world and that is really comforting. When you first start out it’s a little scary, but I’ve met some really amazing people and they are so supportive. They have your back and all they want to do is see their friends succeed, so we help each other while we can.

AltSounds: All Tomorrow's Parties curated by The National, over here in December, seems to be the festival for that community, are there going to be some onstage collaborations between some of the artists?
Sharon Van Etten: I hope so! There are no plans yet, but that’s part of the fun of it
.
AltSounds: Do you structure your festival sets any differently to your own gigs?
Sharon Van Etten: Today, we were trying to do all songs off the new album and also do as many rock songs as we could. It’s not always that way, but today we were like “Let’s go right for the gut and just rock out as much as we can". It’s outside so it’s harder to get peoples’ attention so we played the more upbeat songs. I don’t know though - we are still trying to figure it out.

LISTEN // 'Serpents'

AltSounds: This morning, you said that in the UK we love our festivals, are they not a big deal in the States?
Sharon Van Etten: I feel that festivals just aren’t as well attended, they’re not as big, there is not this huge theme, they’re not as beautiful and there isn’t as much care put into them. People start a festival and it just fizzles out, while here there are epic festivals that last all summer long. While there are random festivals throughout the year, they aren’t as good in the States, and I hear of so many good ones that go on here in the summer.

AltSounds: Thanks for taking time out to do the interview.