Sometimes you get lucky when you go to see a band you like and the opener happens to be good, too. Then there are those rare occasions when the opening act seems to outshine the main event. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does, it’s thrilling and weird and just the tiniest bit disappointing. The audience is left simultaneously impressed with the first band and somewhat bored by the next. That nagging thought of “This is good, but that was better” lingers in the back of your head like a mosquito buzzing annoyingly into your ear. This was the case with headliner Junip and their opener Sharon Van Etten at the Doug Fir Lounge. Both were good, but one just happened to shine through a little bit brighter.
A year ago, you’d be hard pressed to find many out on the west coast who knew about Van Etten and her heartbreakingly beautiful first album Because I Was In Love. A year later, she released Epic and the rave reviews began flooding in. Trading in the solo act for a full band, Van Etten has stepped up her musical game and put out a truly incredible album full of the kind of soul and feeling that you just can’t fake.
Taking the stage at the Doug Fir, she was shy and awkward before launching into her first song, “A Crime.” Once the music started, all of the awkwardness melted away. Van Etten and her voice are a force to be reckoned with and the addition of bass player Doug Keith and drummer Ben Lord has only deepened her and enriched her sound. The fragile, pained feel of her voice in previous work has been replaced with heart-pounding energy and the kind of emotive longing that makes you stop in your tracks and let the music completely wash over your senses.
For the most part, her set was made up of new material all expertly executed. As she played “Peace Sign,” Van Etten pulled out all the stops. She crooned deeply to the audience with her velvety voice and threw her head back as she hit the high notes, eyes rolled back like a woman possessed. On “Save Yourself,” she brought up Alexis Powell, a friend of hers from the band Festival, to sing some backing vocals for that song and a few more. The combination proved lovely and haunting.
Van Etten, depite her awkwardness, was pretty funny as she chatted with the audience between songs. After apologizing for spitting on the audience, she took a stab at Northwest fashion and joked about how flannel was absorbent so we’d all be fine. “I usually wear a spit guard, but I thought you guys were casual.”
Running through more of her new songs, Van Etten took the time to talk about most of then for at least a moment. She dedicated “One Day” to her mother because it’s her favorite and reminds her of Fleetwood Mac and deemed “Don’t Do It” her ”90’s song.” Van Etten finished out her time on stage with a couple solo songs, talking about how she still like to play on her own sometimes and that it’s an important thing for her. It was then that she made one of her only slip-ups for the evening, stumbling over part of her second-to-last song and stopping. “I fucked up,” she said. “I was distracted. I’m going to play a different song.” She launched into a new song and finished out her time on stage gracefully.
Now here’s where things got weird. Junip is a great band and they’ve had a good show of support from Americans in recent years, largely due to the fact that José González is in the band. By the time they were set to take the stage, the room was packed with people. It had been crowded for Van Etten, but now it was hard to move. When they started playing though, there was that familiar feeling of disappointment and then guilt for feeling so disappointed. They sounded wonderful, they played well and their music is spectacular, but the whole thing felt so calm and mellow after seeing Van Etten and her band pour their hearts out into their music.
One nice thing about Junip is the fact that it does prominently feature González’s lovely vocals, and even though he seemed a little sick, he still sounded great. The band combined all the best parts of his solo work with the added feeling and depth of a full band, giving it a nice psychedelic edge and a richer tone. A lot of the songs tended to run together and weave into each other, but there were a few very easily distinguishable ones from their most recent album Fields. “Always” was a particular crowd pleaser, climaxing with a wonderful intensity toward the end.
Junip walked the line dangerously between light structure and full-on jam-outs. Just when it seemed like things were going wildly out of control, they brought us back to the brink with a crash. It was songs like “Without You” that achieved this perfectly, with González’s voice acting as an anchor for the keyboards that threatened to run away.
It’s a shame that Junip felt as lackluster as they did. While there were compelling moments in their set, the amount of feeling behind their music felt nonexistent compared to Van Etten’s emotion and drive, a fact that was hard to forget as they played. Junip ended up feeling more like background music and the talking from the audience was quite a bit more audible during their set. These are two bands that deserve to both headline their own shows seperatley, with openers that fit each bill better. For now, try to forget about how awesome Van Etten is and you’ll enjoy Junip a lot more.
