Photo by Ryan Pfluger
Sharon Van Etten is a New Jersey local, but has been based in New York for much of her adult life.
In between her fourth album, 2014’s Are We There, and her long awaited fifth LP, Remind Me Tomorrow, Van Etten and her partner welcomed their first child into the world. The trio are now in the process of moving to California.
“I’ve been [in New York] for 15 years and it has kicked me in the ass in the best way when I needed it,” says Van Etten. “I’ve met so many amazing people and I’ve been accepted into a community of people that encouraged me to perform, when I only had an open mic experience. I’m excited for a change of pace, but it’s a bittersweet transition.”
Childbirth wasn’t the only thing keeping Van Etten busy during the five-year gap between albums. She started studying for a degree in psychology, made her acting debut in The OA, and tried her hand at composing film scores. The solo project was set aside indefinitely.
“I started writing a lot of [Remind Me Tomorrow] in the midst of writing a score for Strange Weather by my friend Katherine Dieckmann, and it was all very guitar-centric,” says Van Etten. “This was during a time in 2015 where I was like, I’m off the road, I don’t even plan to go back, I don’t care if I make another record.
“I didn’t really have a plan until whenever I got writer’s block in writing the score for this film, I would put down the guitar and I would look around the room for any other instrument to fiddle around on and clear my head.”
Van Etten was sharing a practice space with actor Michael Cera. His Korg CX-3 organ and Roland Jupiter 4 synthesiser intrigued her, providing a welcome distraction from the task at hand.
“I was just having fun experimenting with sounds, not trying to write songs, but I came up with riffs and then it made me want to play drums,” she says. “I would go on a tangent and then realise that I had forgotten what I was trying to do before.”
Much of the synth-heavy album material emerged from these bursts of free experimentation. However, despite the updated production aesthetic, the songwriting on Remind Me Tomorrow isn’t entirely out of left field. Van Etten’s lead vocals are unmistakable, and her preference for slow builds, vocal harmonies, and lingering melancholy remains.
“I like a melody that’s ever changing and ever developing and I write from a personal point of view,” she says. “I think the main difference is that [Remind Me Tomorrow] is not just about my relationship with my romantic partner, but it’s about this new life as a mother and with a family and this new phase of my life.”
Van Etten made the album with esteemed producer John Congleton, who’s worked with St Vincent, Angel Olsen, Swans, Nelly Furtado and many others. She came to Congleton with three main stylistic references – Portishead, Suicide and Nick Cave.
“With Nick Cave it was specifically the album Skeleton Tree,” says Van Etten. “It resonated with me as a new mother. Very dark textures, but there was also drones and a lot of low end, but a lot of intimacy for there still being this really dark production.
“I feel that [Portishead’s] Beth Gibbons has a similar presence on her records that can have this trip hop feel, this really dark sound, but you can still hear the vulnerability in her voice. With Suicide, I appreciate how minimal it is and how dark it is and how bleak it is and there’s so much energy and there’s so much drive. I like the rawness a lot.
“[I wanted a] combination of them all – keeping the rawness and a lot of the low end and a lot of the drive with the vulnerability still at the centre.”
Sharon Van Etten comes to Hamer Hall on Tuesday June 11. Tickets available via the Arts Centre Melbourne website.
