By: Stone Irr

It’s no secret that Sharon Van Etten has experienced heartbreak in her life. Tramp acts as a series of stowed-away, journal entries that are not necessarily sweet, but very grounded. Each song is a letter drenched in reflective heartache with an overall attitude of sincerity. Van Etten’s lyrical content is filled with beautiful imagery and allusions, while not forgetting the power of memorable hooks- felt especially in the songs “Serpents” and “In Line”.

The National’s Aaron Dessner acts as album producer and his influence is heavily felt in Tramp’s layout. The layering of instruments embodies a similar soundscape to that of The National’s 2010 release, High Violet. Intermittent use of piano in “All I Can”, sharp guitar licks in “Give Out” and “Serpents,” subtle organ in “Kevin’s” all provide a cavalcade of lush sound felt throughout the album. Van Etten’s voice soars over all of this background noise with a message- with her notes to past lovers. Harmonies are not forgotten on any of the tracks either; the appearance of Beruit’s Zachary Condon on “We Are Fine” proves this seemingly crucial desire for harmony.

The very first chords in “Warsaw” give an uncertainty in musical structure, which equivocates with her lyrical dilemma of dealing love and heartbreak. This song plays out as an updated, rejuvenated rendition of “Don’t Do It” off of her previous album Epic. Acting as the object of her dilemma, sporadic licks of distorted guitar respond as Van Etten defiantly swoons- “he is over you/I want to be over you/I want to show you”

In “Give Out”, Van Ettan’s verses “you’re the reason I’ll move to the city/or why I’ll need to leave” perfectly embodies her constant confrontation with the positives and negatives of her relationships. Self-aware of her failures and strengths, Van Etten unabashedly gives the listener a tell all story- all the way down to her most cruel and forgiving thoughts.

“Leonard” acts as a sequel to her song “Love More” with the lyrics “I thought that you would love more”. She carries all of the weight when she admits her failure in the being “bad at loving you”. “In Line” is a strong follow-up to this song and to the first half of the album.

There is a bit of a lapse after “In Line” as the album starts up again but doesn’t reach full steam until “Ask”. This song marks a return with Van Etten’s stark truth- “it’s that I have to hide/so I won’t be there to ask”. This point is where the sorrow begins to be conveyed and should find full form and possibly mark an end for the record. Fear of repetition should have been a warning sign, but Van Etten decides to eek out two more, somewhat underwhelming, songs.

Composition can’t be the sole redeeming element of the record. Amid the flurry of heavy lines such as “I’m wrong” and “we all make mistakes” still lay remnants of over-bloated songs at the hands of Dessner’s production. The overt attempt to create a lush, full-embodied LP (as opposed to Van Etten’s Epic, which consisted of only seven songs) ends in an overshot in musical direction and submerges Van Etten’s topic-matter a little too deep under the layers of noise.

Sincerity emanates from every portion of this album: vocally, lyrically, and musically. Though there is integrity in her honesty, there can be dragging points in the deluge of sincerity. The lyrical content of self-loathing almost becomes overtly repetitious while still maintaining a true human element. Attempting to overdrive the emotion with large, musical embellishment proves a small misstep that doesn’t fully compromise the lyrics but again falls into the likeliness of unoriginality. None of this though can fully mask the true hurt and beauty within these songs. One can tell that Van Etten kept her journal entries incredibly well kept and safe, but made too much of an effort in her display for everyone to see.

7/10

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