Sharon Van Etten 'Because I Was In Love'

I have no idea who Sharon Van Etten is and the only information that I have been able to glean from the interweb, is that she is a singer-songwriter from Brooklyn who is variously described as "the voice of New York", "the new Cat Power" and "the new alt.folk sensation"....and I'm the one writing the non-professional, just for fun, music-blog then? Hmm, OK. Well I shall do my best to not describe Van Etten as the 'new' anything.

What I will say is, don't listen to this album's first track 'I Wish I Knew' whilst driving a car, slicing bread or doing anything that requires concentration. It is a quite astonishing piece of work and will cause you to stop whatever you are doing and stand open-mouthed thinking "did I just hear that?". Van Etten strums an acoustic guitar and sings with a hauntingly beautiful (sorry) voice that twists, turns and wraps itself around words. It sounds like a ghost in the pipes, visceral white noise in its own quiet way, as she sings a song of confusion, uncertainty and fear. It continues like this until Van Etten reaches a comforting conclusion ("I don't know shit and neither do you...but thats ok as long as we can talk about it") and the song stops dead, like static fading out. It is supremely beautiful and otherwordly and one of the best things I have heard this year.

It is no criticism of Van Etten that the LP cannot continue at this hightened level. The sound from thereon is a more traditional folky sound, coming across a little like a mix of Cat Power and Beth Orton (but I'm not saying she is the 'new' either of them OK? Just to be clear), 'Consolation Prize' is catchy and light and 'I Fold' is downbeat and serene, it is never less than highly listenable. There is a bit of a departure on 'Tornados' where she goes crazy with the instrumentation....in the context of this record, that means an added tambourine and electric guitar... and it all sounds very bluesy and very, well, Mazzy Star.

This is a really fine debut record. You'll want to play it at home, when its nice and quiet, on a rainy day. It doesn't work so much on the train. Worth buying for the stunning opening song alone.

7.0

['Because I Was In Love' is out now on Drag City]