AOTS: Sharon Van Etten, Tramp

AOTS? On a Wednesday? Is the woman delirious? No. No, I'm not. Well, maybe, but not about this. I found out about this just two days ago, and I couldn't wait until Sunday to hear it. Besides, they might have taken down the stream by then, and if I didn't hear this for the sake of routine I don't know what I'd have done. Pretty standard reaction for someone addicted to music, you might think. But here is where it gets strange.

I never liked her that much.

I always thought she was good, certainly, I loved her voice, loved her guitar playing. But there was something missing. Maybe because I hadn't listened to enough of her music. Well, here I am, listening to Tramp and wondering where this album has been all my life. It starts slowly, sneakily, in clouds of electric and acoustic guitar, and the kind of voice an angel would have if it started gargling gravel. Give Out is normal enough, apart from the soft, powerful melody that takes it from unremarkable to the most beautiful song I've heard this year. It feels as if you're standing behind a locked door, listening to the songs of a woman who has no idea you're there, and is all the more glorious for it. Gentle and chilling, beautiful and tormented, both Kevin's and Leonard make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, make you shiver. How is it that something so simple, so common as the words "I loved you" can freeze the blood in your veins? And there's a tragedy in every "And it hurts too much to laugh about it" a tragedy that still holds on to its dignity, its hurt pride, instead of letting go and wallowing in self-pity. The feeling flows through the whole album, covering every quiet word with a strength that is hard to find within yourself, let alone make an album from it. It's been a long time since anything this bare has been so enchanting, and that's the surprising thing, the proof if proof were needed that music like this is more than the sum of its parts. From the all-consuming piano-guitar-drums-vocals of All I Can, to the understated We Are Fine, it seems wrong that there are people in this world, making music right now that is stronger and sharper than anything so many hundreds of bands and artists can dream of creating. It embodies so much, and yet Tramp is an album unaware of its own grace. My only hope is that the rest of the world can see it.

10/10

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