Midway through her late-afternoon set on the Barton Springs stage, Sharon Van Etten admitted she hadn’t played with a full band in years, and that ACL served as the quintet’s debut of many of her new songs. She seemed uncertain of their reception, but the short, stunning show anticipated a welcome return to music with next year’s Remind Me Tomorrow.
Beginning with new single “Comeback Kid,” Van Etten launched raw and fierce, gritted teeth spitting into the mic against dark, preprogrammed beats and a bed of effects. At its most melodic, the new material struck the heavy shoegaze intensity of Beach House, but the Brooklyn singer, 37, revels in fearless and intense confrontation of anxiety. That’s apropos of her recent return to school to study mental health counseling.
She didn’t strap on a guitar until four songs in, diving into 2014’s Are We There with “Our Love.” Likewise, that album’s “Everytime the Sun Comes Up” and “Serpents” from 2012’s Tramp offered searing anchors amid the new material.
Among the highlights of unreleased new material, “Seventeen” and “You Shadow” stood out in particular. The former rose anthemic in its empathy of wayward youthfulness, while the latter took on self-doubt. The bandleader wielded a maraca in a clenched, leather-wrapped fist, each thrust doubling as a punch of defiance.
Although Van Etten may one day become a certified mental health counselor, her closing with the powerful addiction and suicide plea “Don’t Do It” proved that for thousands of fans, her music already is.
This article appears in October 5 • 2018.
