It was a night of powerful voices and strong wills. Three women, each with their own unique style, sharing deeply emotional lyrics and expressing themselves through their music.
The evening started off with a very understated set from Jana Hunter. You may know Hunter as the lead singer/songwriter from Baltimore band Lower Dens. Like the other women of the evening, Hunter’s voice is her top asset. Touring solo can be quite daunting, especially when playing as the first of three acts. Seated and playing electric guitar along with synth/drum rhythms created by the pre-programmed laptop next to her, Hunter evoked a child’s desire to recede into the background. Her songs leaned towards the 80s, with vocals showing hints of Siouxsie Sioux or Elizabeth Fraser. Her 30 minute set ended with more people talking amongst themselves than she would have preferred, as demonstrated by her short mocking of the murmur heard throughout.
A quick rearranging of elements on stage and Courtney Barnett and her two additional bandmates came on stage. I had not done my homework, and came into the set totally unprepared for the onslaught I experienced. Barnett, from Melbourne, Australia, is an absolute joy to watch perform, playing her left-handed guitar (labeled “when i was an alien”) without a pick. She wore her guitar with the strap hung around her neck like a necklace, allowing the guitar more freedom to move about.
I’ve been listening to Barnett’s recorded music for the last 12 hours, and the disparity heard between the live performance and the studio recordings is large. That’s not to say that either is bad or incorrect. On the contrary, they both stand out in their own ways. The recorded works would best be described as “singer/songwriter.” Not necessarily understated, but not rocking either. Liz Phair-style sparseness, with jangly guitar and garage-style drums allows Barnett’s doubled-up voice on the recordings to shine through.
Performed live, the rock n’ roll comes out. All three of the musicians on stage (Barnett, with Bones Sloan on bass, and Dave Mudie on drums) were quite animated, which always makes for a better performance. Barnett’s hair — a mass of straight shoulder-length brunette — often fell in her face, which only enhanced her grunge-like qualities. There were numerous drawn out guitar solos, and this being the last time they would be opening for Van Etten, the band really went all out. For the last song, Barnett came out to the foot of the stage, guitar dangling over the crowd, slaying the lot of us. I was left with a strong desire to quickly consume everything they’d ever recorded, and to see if she had any headlining sets in Seattle anytime soon. (Sadly, no. But they are playing some other West-coast dates in late July / early August that you should definitely go to if you can. And she’s also playing a short set at Sonic Boom Records in Ballard tonight at 7pm.)
I was slightly concerned that Barnett’s set may be the highlight of the evening, overshadowing the headliner: Sharon Van Etten. Thankfully, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Van Etten’s band (Darren Jessee (from Ben Folds Five) on drums, Doug Keith on guitar, Heather Woods Broderick on backup vocals and additional keyboards, and Brad Cook (from Megafaun) on bass) was very much on point, professional, and thoroughly enjoyable. And with Van Etten playing acoustic guitar, electric guitar, omnichord, organ and piano in addition to singing with the most powerful voice we’d hear that evening (and that’s saying something), the crowd was hanging on her every syllable.
Like Barnett, Van Etten would let her hair (short, dark, cut to the ears) fall in her face, singing through the mass and hiding her face. I never got the feeling that either of them were trying to hide from us, unlike what I was sensing from Jana Hunter, the opener (her hair was super short, not providing any respite).
Van Etten’s music is slow but not glacial. Languid but not weak. Sleepy but not tired. Listening to it, you can’t help but feel. Sadness, happiness, anger, joy — they’re all there, sometimes all at once. Amazingly, she is able to translate this feeling to the stage, performing these somewhat depressing songs with giddiness and a smile. “I’m weird, I’m totally weird. Is that ok with you?” she said, halfway through her set, and then she picked her nose. Seriously. It was such a menagerie of feelings, it could have been mistaken for schizophrenia.
But her set held together very well. Van Etten’s May 2014 album Are We There is one of my favorites of the year so far, and the songs got even better when heard live. The highlight of the album for me, “Your Love is Killing Me,” with the brutal first half of the chorus slowly singing “break my legs so I won’t walk to you; cut my tongue so I can’t talk to you; burn my skin so I can’t feel you; stab my eyes so I can’t see” is even more powerful sung right in front of you.
Van Etten played a handful of songs from her previous albums, but the new songs were the most polished. When she came out for the encore by herself, she stood behind the keyboard and sang another powerful standout from the new album, “I Know” which she characterized by saying “People think this song is about cheating. But it’s really about choosing music over a relationship.” You could hear the audience swoon, collectively.
The Neptune Theater has become one of the premier venues in Seattle — good sound, great sight lines, attentive crowds (or plenty of ways to ignore the non-attentive ones), with shows starting and ending at reasonable hours. Throw in three women with some of the most powerful voices in indie rock and you’ve got yourself a great night. Here’s to many, many more.