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It’s Pitchfork’s annual concert throwdown this weekend, up there in the Windy City. Sadly, I’m missing yet another festival this year, and I’m just a little crankypants about it. Those of you lucky souls that are there, I’m sure you’ll have a splendid time, what with all the good music that’s going to transpire. Hours and hours and hours of it. (No, I'm not bitter).
To celebrate the weekend of Pitchforkery, the lovely and enchanting songstress Sharon Van Etten answered a mini slew of Pitchfork-related questions. You might remember my gushery over the Megafaun show here a little while back, and Sharon’s performance was a big part of all that high praise. With her beautiful, antique crystal fragile voice and delicate, glorious songs, Miss Van Etten won me over from the word go. Her songs seem to hover somewhere along classic folk songs with a contemporary twist, and her live show is not to be missed. Do you hear me, Chicago? Not. To. Be. Missed. She’s playing this very day, so get your skates on. And buy one of her nifty new tees while you’re at it.
Les Enfants Terribles: How are you getting to Pitchfork: plane, train, or automobile?
Sharon Van Etten: Plane and autmobile.
LET: Inevitably, you will forget to pack:
SVE: A toothbrush, socks.
LET: Who will you be sharing a stage with on the day?
SVE: El-P, Robyn, Modest Mouse.
LET: Band you're most looking forward to seeing at the festival?
SVE: Cass McCombs, St. Vincent, Here We Go Magic, Beach House, Panda bear, Kurt Vile, Tallest Man on Earth.
LET: What's the first thing you plan on doing upon arrival in Chicago?
SVE: Picking up my new t-shirts! We made a fun logo - (the Van Halen logo... haha).
LET: What was the first festival you ever attended, either as a musician or member of the general public?
SVE: It was at Count Basie Theatre - Evan Dando (old Jr. high crush), The Murmurs, Frente, Pete Droge, The Whirling Dirvishes, and Soup Dragons. HA. That was great...
LET: Favorite thing about festivals?
SVE: How crazy people are. I love watching people. The energy...the applause of a big crowd and being part of that is pretty thrilling.
mp3: Love More (Sharon Van Etten from the forthcoming Epic)[Photo by
Victoria Jacob]
In my humble opinion, sometimes the best shows are the ones that sneak up on you, the ones that you might not have expected to be one of the best you've seen all year, the ones that are so full of sheer awesomeness that you just can't believe what you just saw. Friends, I'm hear to tell you that the Megafaun/Sharon Van Etten show at the Black Cat was one such show. I went in sans expectations, and left with one hell of a smile on my face.MINI RECAP: Sharon Van Etten = Delightful! Megafaun = Just plain fantastic! Overall score: A.When I arrived, the fabulous Sharon Van (not Von, mind you!) Etten was already doing her thing. She has this great sweet yet sassy thing going on, with really top-notch folktastic songs and a killer voice. She told us stories, including my favorite one involving her playing an all-day metal show. Sharon has a disarming stage persona that totally draws you in and makes you totally comfortable, and then she wows with her big, haunting voice and her solid songs. By the time she was done she had totally impressed me, and judging by the constant stream of people going to talk to her at the merch area, I wasn't the only one she had under her spell.And then it was time for the wonderfully bearded trio of Megafaun (having lived in Richmond, I defintely have a fondness for beards). I wasn't at all prepared for how good they were going to be, or for how much I was going to love them by the end of the evening. "We're Megafaun, we're really thrilled to be here," they began, before launching into a lengthy set of beautiful, rustic, inspired folk. I was so impressed with everything about Megafaun; how their voices compliment one another so perfectly, how they played their instruments just so, and how they totally win the best banter of 2010 award with their amusing little anecdotes and trivia questions. My probable favorite song of the night, "Kaufman's Ballad," was even lovelier than on record, with the soaring harmonies and delicious pickin' on the banjo. They can go from making exquisitely fragile, delicate sounds to steamrolling some loud as all get out noise, and somehow it's all equally gorgeous. There's an overall rhythm in their music that makes me think of a backwoods version of The Band, both in terms of skill and the textures of the music. As with The Band, music seems effortless coming from them. And they're so dang humble and endearingly silly. "We've been accused of talking too much, I don't get where that happens," was just one of the little asides that engrained them into my heart. And then there was the encore. People, take note. The best way to do an encore is to have a singalong in the middle of the venue, not on the stage, surrounded by happy, singing fans. It was a fitting, glorious end to a just-about-perfect show. I kept chiding myself during the course of their set, for not already being a huge Megafaun fan. But I'm gonna fix that, I can guarandamntee it. I'll tell you this right now, compadres, I loved everything about their set. No lie. When they moved from the stage to the floor, that was awesome. The way they built up a total lovefest between themselves and the crowd. That too, was awesome. Megafaun pretty much came out of left field and bowled me over. Go see this band. Frequently. That's all there is to it. mp3: Kaufman's Ballad (Megafun from Gather, Form and Fly)
