Sharon Van Etten live at Vicar Street in Dublin with support from L’rain and at Cyprus Avenue the following night for Cork Midsummer Festival with support from Maija Sofia. Photos by Aaron Corr and Celeste Burdon. Vicar Street in Dublin by Aaron Corr Cyprus Avenue in Cork by Celeste Burdon
Over the past 12 years, New Jersey native Sharon Van Etten has steadily made a name for herself as one of indie music’s most reliable and consistent artists. Since 2009’s debut Because I Was In Love, her melancholic, mature songwriting has gone from strength to strength with her recent album Remind Me Tomorrow being the most experimental and accomplished of all. It’s been quite some time since Van Etten’s last outing to Dublin however before she takes to the stage the audience is treated to support act The Golden Filter. The synth-pop duo (below) is the perfect companion to Van…
“Kid came back. A real turn around.” Remind Me Tomorrow’s extraordinary lead single ‘Comeback Kid’ was an electrifying jolt to the system. Ducking and weaving like a prizefighter over buzzing synths and a clatter of snare drums, it was a hair raising musical feat that instantly heralded a radical break from Sharon Van Etten’s established sound. It is a trend that runs to the core of an album, which eschews her typical palette of dark guitar textures and sombre piano in favour of a warmer, glossier soundscape that brims and burbles with vintage electronics and off kilter percussion. Each track…
Sharon Van Etten will play Dublin’s Vicar Street on March 23, 2019. The New Jersey singer-songwriter and actress – who last play the Dublin venue in 2015 – will release her new album, Remind Me Tomorrow, tomorrow. Van Etten’s Dublin show takes place as part of a 33-date world tour. Tickets go on sale this Friday at 10am. Ticket price including booking fee is €25.00. Photo by Ryan Pfluger
It was inevitable given the locale and the name of tonight’s performer that the words of Georgie fucking Burgess – indelibly etched into the minds of every Irish person of a certain generation – would be proffered in the direction of the stage. “That was A1, Sharon” – not just hollow, borrowed words in this instance, but a snappy summation of a fine performance bathed in the warm glow of the Vicar Street stage. Sharon Van Etten coos a “hello” to the chattering crowd, quietening them for a time as the five-piece band begins ‘Afraid Of Nothing’. Dark shades and…
April has certainly been a busy news month – in sports, we had lifetime bans and huge fines for court-side racism, as well as banana throwing (and eating); in entertainment we had Jeremy Clarkson, mostly just being Jeremy Clarkson; in politics we had a series of PR meltdowns for UKIP, many of them revolving around racism as well. Indeed, intolerance and prejudice has been widespread this month. There was no sparing the music world, either, with both Sky Ferreira and Avril Lavigne being branded racists for their respective music videos. It would be easy to be bogged down by all…
This month has been remarkable in terms of the quantity of excellent music releases on all fronts, and summarizing it into a playlist of 10 tracks has proven a tad difficult. As such, there are many notable absentees from this list, but at the same time I can assure you the reader that these ten new releases are not just good, or even great, but downright essential listens if one is to keep ahead of the crowd. I wouldn’t lie about things of such importance. As per usual, the first list of songs is in no particular order, with the…