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The opening Warsaw clatters out of the speakers, jagged electric guitars and drums courtesy of The Walkmen’s Matt Barrick forming the backdrop upon which Van Etten’s wounded vocals roam, setting the template for a fragmentary record that revels in a dark, sometimes sinister aesthetic. That she was essentially without a home over its recording process is evident over its 12 songs: they blur into each other at first, hallucinatory and shapeless, further listening revealing moments of standalone fury and beauty of the kind that has always been present in her work.
The oppressive nature of its initial salvo – Serpents, in particular, is seething, recriminatory, vicious – eventually gives way to the serene lilt of ukulele-led single Leonard, the first real glimpse of light on the record. Van Etten is nevertheless characteristically frank as she sketches her own culpability in the demise of a relationship, and storm clouds quickly re-gather in the shape of the subsequent In Line, all moody, swelling backing vocals and defiantly slow pace.
Yet over its back-end Tramp begins to open up with greater frequency – a good look for Van Etten. A fleet of guests including Beirut’s Zach Condon, Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner and Julianna Barwick all make appearances, while on the lovely Ask she offers the lyric "Let’s find something that can last / Like cigarette ash the world is collapsing around me / Let’s try to do the best we can." On an album fraught with insecurity and angst, moments like these feel like hard-won triumphs that were more than worth fighting for.
--James Skinner
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Van Etten's drawling style is given rousing accompaniments here with tracks that build through guitars and a mixture of strings, brass and piano. This feels like it contains a lot of heart. Listen to Ask where she ends by singing 'It hurts too much to laugh about it' to finish the slow build and you know that the effort isn't just in the tunes here. This is a rock album but don't expect large riffs all the time. Its a quieter affair most of the time actually and whilst the rocky Serpents really works it sounds very familiar but new at the same time. There is an attraction to the whole piece that pulls you back in and as a whole it will stay on the play list for some time.
Thoughtfully put together this will make Van Etten a more familiar name than just to her famous friends.
SVE has something, several things, that many of her 'rivals' might lack: a confidence and attitude in her voice and her songwriting (musically, melodically and lyrically), and she has a voice that is different while still being true and un-affected.
For those reasons I'd sooner compare her to the assuredness (if not the style and sound) of Rickie Lee Jones and Joni Mitchell than any of the other current solo women acts I have heard.
'Tramp' should appeal to fans of Arcade Fire, The National, Jeff Buckley and the like, but also anyone with an ear for integrity.
With this CD in my hifi, my ipod can have a nice long rest.
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