Sharon van Etten at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in April. (Photo © 2011, Steven P. Marsh)
Powerful singer Sharon van Etten, whose great strength is in the directness of her lyrics and singing, has signed a new recording deal with Jagjaguwar Records, her publicist has announced.
Congratulations are in order. It’s a great career move for one of the best, most honest singers active today.
The move puts Sharon in the company of top indie acts such as Bon Iver, Okkervil River, Black Mountain and Dinosaur Jr. Jagjaguwar will release her third album, being produced by The National‘s Aaron Dessner, in early 2012.
The National's Aaron Dessner performing with Sharon Van Etten at the Northside Festival in Brooklyn in June.
Sharon is the second hot artist to part ways with Brookyn’s Ba Da Bing label in recent months. Ba Da Bing released Epic, an album that really boosted her profile, last year. Her connection with the label is even deeper, though. Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone? first met Sharon as a Ba Da Bing publicist, who was representing noise-rock duo WOOM.
Longtime Ba Da Bing labelmate Beirut announced in June that its next album would be self-released rather than on Ba Da Bing. The band is continuing under Ba Da Bing’s management aegis, however. It’s unclear whether Sharon will do the same.
It looks like Sharon, an amazingly talented and genuinely nice person, is living up to our early expectations. This year alone she’s already played Bonnaroo, Sasquatch, and MusicNow. And she has dates scheduled later this year at Bumbershoot, Musicfest NW and at the Hollywood Bowl with The National and Neko Case.
We’re thrilled to see Sharon’s continuing success.
Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? 