Jason Sandford
Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.
By Claire Clayton
I arrive at the Grey Eagle and Tiny Ruins, Sharon Van Etten’s opener, has already taken the stage. I am mildly familiar with Sharon Van Etten, mostly her Tramp album, which I adore in a let’s-drink-red-wine-on-a-stranger’s-stoop-in-the-middle-of-December kind of way. I started listening to Tiny Ruins only last week. But I am prepared to embrace a night filled with stories of heartache told in sad, perfected yodels. Girl Power.
Tiny Ruins is a 3-piece band from Auckland, New Zealand, that performs what I would consider lullabies for adults. Hollie, the lead vocalist, prefaces each song with an anecdote explaining the song’s origin. Her voice is soft, calming and delicately coated with a New Zealand accent. She is unapologetically adorable and genuine. She tells the story of how she hung a rock from her neighbor’s window and tricked them into believing it was hung there by magic. And then she sings a song about it, simple and unpretentious: The Ballad of the Hanging Parcel.
Her band mate, Cass Basil—vocalist and bass—joins Hollie in sweet, low harmonies that bounce off of Hollie and nestle in the softest spot of her highest note; tears well up in my eyes as if I’m looking at something bright. Alexander Freer—drummer—envelops them both with light taps on the cymbal like quick, gentle thunderstorms in summer.
When Hollie starts in on, Me at the Museum, You in the Wintergardens, the crowd thickens. The audience recognizes that this is more than your ordinary coffeehouse band.
As promised in Hollie’s interview, Tiny Ruins plays a cover song, one by Bob Dylan, I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine. Hollie tries to mimic Bob Dylan’s accent and her voice breaks and bounces perfectly, like changing partners in a dance.
During their last few songs, all off their latest album, Brightly Painted One, there is a definite need to pick up the tempo. Hollie’s voice is so lovely and polite, I’m curious what would happen if you screamed and shook her. No screaming, no shaking, Tiny Ruins maintain their sleepy pace.
Right around the time when a tired, young girl from the audience calls it quits and curls up for a nap in the seat next to me, Tiny Ruins breaks out into She’ll Be Coming Around, which was a bit of a grand finale in juxtaposition with their softer ballads; a perfect transitional closing song.
Sharon, oh, Sharon. The woman knows how to create suspense. She keeps the audience waiting for far too long on a Tuesday night. The lights dim, everyone claps, nothing happens. A pause on the pre-performance playlist, someone shouts “SHARON,” and nothing happens. This goes on for ten or 15 minutes.
Sharon and her band finally take the stage and the crowd lets out a breath. We are all so ready. Napping girl next to me is on her feet. Once on stage, Sharon’s presence is great. She’s relaxed and casually chats with audience members and reels in a few new Instagram followers. “It’s like we’re almost friends,” she says.
Unlike Tiny Ruins, Sharon is loud, demanding and desperate, but not in a pitiful way. She prefaces Nothing Will Change, and says, “This song is a bit pessimistic.” But I am so lost in her and Heather Woods—vocals and keyboard— rolling harmonies that this song could be about lollipops and unicorns and I would still have one hand in the air while the other desperately clutches at my lonely heart. This is the moment I realize how dire Heather’s voice is to the mystery of Sharon Van Etten’s sound.
I nearly have a brain aneurism when her and Heather break out into their “ooo’s” in Save Yourself from her album, Epic. I am bursting with emotion. I notice a fair amount of embracing in the audience at this point. Everyone feels everything.
Sharon’s performance piqued with “Your Love is Killing Me” from her latest album, Are We There. “Break my legs so I wont 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 you.” Heather’s harmonies and the keyboard howling turn the song into something of a ghost story. The performance is so severe and real and the lyrics menacing. I am putting this song on a mix-tape for all evil ex-boyfriends everywhere.
Each song ends so abruptly, it interrupts my foot tap; I don’t want it to stop. I’m not sure if that’s a critique or not. They also play a song not recorded on the album, Sharon says, but the guitar solo is so sweet and sultry I wish I knew the name.
After what seems like twenty minutes, the show is over. This is my biggest critique of Sharon Van Etten’s performance, other than making me wait impatiently for her to come on stage. You’re in high demand Sharon, why go? This is exactly how the entire audience feels, so we do what any rationally crazed fan-group would do. We stomp and demand an encore.
Sharon humors us and sings a very appropriate cover song, Remember Mountains, and then calls the rest of her gang up on stage to perform Every Time the Sun Comes Up. After a few very nice compliments to Tiny Ruins, the Grey Eagle and the rest of her crew, Sharon is gone. Sharon Van Etten’s tour with Tiny Ruins has come to a close.
To see Sharon Van Etten’s fall tour schedule and where to buy her latest album Are We There, please visit www.sharonvanetten.com.
One of those great shows that was just too short.
A little editing/quality control here, please:
“I nearly have a brain aneurism when her and Heather break out into their “ooo’s . . .”
SHE. The proper pronoun here is “she.”
Per the standard music writing handbook: album titles are italicized, song titles are put in quotation marks, and band names are left alone (it makes little sense to italicize Tiny Ruins throughout but not Sharon’s name).
Thank you, professor.