Sharon Van Etten | |
Number of songs: 2 | Total weeks on charts: 6
Appearing in a total number of: 2 charts | Total period running: 27 days
Appearing in a total number of: 2 charts | Total period running: 27 days
Songs by Sharon Van Etten
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Biography
Sharon Van Etten (born February 26, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter and actress from New Jersey.
Van Etten was born in Belleville, New Jersey and lived in Nutley, NJ before moving to Clinton as a pre-teen. Later, she moved to Tennessee to attend Middle Tennessee State University and studied recording, but dropped out of college after a year. Van Etten ended up working at the Red Rose, a coffee and record shop and music venue in Murfreesboro, for about five years. In 2004, she moved back to New Jersey, where she worked at Perryville Wine and Spirits. Van Etten moved to New York City in 2005.
Van Etten self-released handmade CDs until 2009, when her debut studio recording was released. Before her studio debut, she worked at Astor Wines and as a publicist at Ba Da Bing Records.
Van Etten's debut, Because I Was in Love, was released on May 26, 2009, on Language of Stone, and was manufactured and distributed by Drag City. Because I Was in Love was produced by Greg Weeks at Hexham Head studio in Philadelphia.
On September 21, 2010, Van Etten released her second album, epic, on Ba Da Bing Records. With no set band at the time, Van Etten called on friends Jeffrey Kish, Dave Hartley, Jessica Larrabee, and Andy LaPlant of She Keeps Bees, Cat Martino, Meg Baird, Jim Callan, and Brian Christinzio. The album was produced by Brian McTear at Miner Street Recordings in Philadelphia. NPR described it as possessing "a fuller sound compared to the super-spare arrangements on her first two self-produced albums, but epic still feels incredibly intimate, with lots of room to breathe and unfold."
Van Etten's third studio album, Tramp, was released on February 7, 2012, on Jagjaguwar. Tramp was produced by The National's Aaron Dessner and recorded in his home studio in Brooklyn, New York. The album features musicians Doug Keith, Thomas Bartlett, Bryan Devendorf, Bryce Dessner, Matt Barrick, Rob Moose, Julianna Barwick, Peter Silberman, Logan Coale, Clarice Jensen, Ben Lanz, Zach Condon, and Jenn Wasner.
May 2014 brought about the release of Van Etten's fourth record, Are We There, on Jagjaguwar. Van Etten produced the record with Stewart Lerman, with the guidance of bandmate and manager Zeke Hutchins. Most of the recording was done at Hobo Sound Studios in Weehawken, New Jersey, with piano tracks being recorded at Electric Lady Studios in New York City. The record features musicians Zeke Hutchins, Doug Keith, Heather Woods Broderick, Dave Hartley, Adam Granduciel, Marisa Anderson, Stuart D. Bogie, Mickey Free, Mary Lattimore, Little Isidor, Jacob Morris, Torres' Mackenzie Scott, Shearwater's Jonathan Meiburg, Lower Dens' Jana Hunter, and Efterklang touring member Peter Broderick.
In 2015, the EP I Don't Want to Let You Down was released on Jagjaguwar. It is composed of the songs that did not make it onto Are We There.
On October 2, 2018, Van Etten released a new track entitled Comeback Kid and announced her next album Remind Me Tomorrow, which was released on January 18, 2019.
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."
In 2016, Van Etten appeared in five episodes of season 1 of the Netflix drama The OA as Rachel, a fellow abductee along with Prairie in Dr. Percy's basement lab/terrarium. Rachel and the other captives are subjected to after-life experiments while conspiring over a period of years to possibly escape, and at one point, Rachel sings a song of remembrance. Van Etten also appeared in episode six of the 2017 Twin Peaks series on Showtime.
Van Etten gave birth to her first child in 2017 and currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Discography:
• Right Beside Me (2005) – First demo, self-released on CD-R.
• Musical Valium (2006) – Self-released
• When The Rain Came (2006) – Self-released
• Live At The Bowery Poetry Club (August 5, 2006) (2006) – Self-released live mini-album, CD-R.
• I Miss Tennessee (2006) – Second demo, self-released on CD-R.
• Home Recordings aka Untitled (2007) – Self-released home-recorded CD-R.
• Sharon Van Etten (2008) – Self-released home-recorded CD-R, with different artwork but same track listing as "Home Recordings" album.
• Because I Was in Love (2009)
• epic (2010)
• Tramp (2012)
• Tramp Demos (2012) • Are We There (2014)
• (it was) because i was in love (2017) – A remastered and remixed version of Van Etten’s 2009 debut album. Remastered by Joe Lambert, remixed by Craig Silvey. Includes 2 bonus tracks, "I’m Giving Up On You" and "You Didn’t Really Do That".
• Remind Me Tomorrow (2019)
Sources: Wikipedia, Top40-Charts.com Editorial team
Sharon Van Etten in the news
