Intimate and hushed, Sharon Van Etten's folk tunes tend to quiet any room she plays them in. These are the type of nuanced songs that can render a crowd breathless.
Van Etten was introduced to an eclectic blend of folk and rock 'n' roll while growing up in Nashville. She worked her way to Brooklyn, and after a national tour in support of her debut album, Because I Was In Love, she turned to Epic, a seven-song LP that was one of NPR Music's favorite records of 2010.
Lined with melancholic heartbreak, Van Etten bears it all — the betrayal, the obsession, and everything that comes along with collapsed romances. But where there is dark, there is also light, and she is not afraid to demonstrate her hopeful side. Epic is definitely an album beaming with learned experiences and growth, leaving every listener with something to take away.
With guitar in hand, she was this year's first featured artist in the Shaking Through music series from WXPN and the non-profit Philadelphia organization Weathervane Music. It was there that she recorded "Love More," the moving finale to Epic.
Check out the playlist below:
| Kate Bush | Running Up That Hill | The WholeStory |
| LCD Soundsystem | I Can Change | This Is Happening |
| Talking Heads | Road to Nowhere | Little Creatures |
| Sharon Van Etten | Peace Signs | Recorded Live for the World Cafe |
| Sharon Van Etten | Save Yourself | Recorded Live for the World Cafe |
| Sharon Van Etten | Love More | Recorded Live for the World Cafe |
| Sharon Van Etten | One Day | Recorded Live for the World Cafe |
| Warpaint | Undertow | The Fool |
| Calexico | Love Will Tear Us Apart | Sweetheart 2005: Love Songs |
| Bill Frisell & Vinicius Cantuária | Calle 7 | Lagrimas Mexicanas |
| Bryan Ferry | You Can Dance | Olympia |
| Yaz | Only You | Upstairs At Eric's |
| Stevie Ray Vaughan | Say What | Soul to Soul |
| Kings of Leon | Back Down South | Come Around Sundown |
| The Low Anthem | Ghost Woman Blues | Smart Flesh |
| Blitzen Trapper | Black River Killer | Furr |
| Mumford & Sons | The Cave | Sigh No More |
| Buffalo Springfield | On the Way Home | Retrospective |
| Deerhunter | Desire Lines | Halcyon Digest |
| Love | She Comes In Colors | The Best of Love |
| The Decemberists | Down By the Water | The King is Dead |
| Ben Folds / Nick Hornby | From Above | Lonely Avenue |