The world is full of awful noise, and sometimes one's sanity depends upon getting a teensy bit of quiet time. But it should never be too quiet. That's where Sharlyn Everetsz's unsteadily strummed guitars and whispery vocals come in handy. Hers is singer-songwritery stuff that's better than silence.
Yesterday, the enigmatic local songstress chatted about quiet time, crimes of passion, and a couple other things.
New Times: So, Charlie, tell me about "Save the Tears."
Sharlyn Evertsz: That's a song that conveys a kind of angsty desire towards a lover, but ultimately you're all right.
All right? Lyrics like "See you when I get there/Biting on your door/Loving all your women/See you while you're crawling/Lying on the floor" make me think you might stab me while I sleep.
Amazing how one can feel when in love.
So you think you're capable of committing a crime of passion?
No, not at all. But I can imagine such a story, and we all know they happen.
Is that why you make music? To help keep yourself under control?
That would be one way to put it. Not to prevent me from killing lovers, but from being unsettled and restless.
Yeah. And even if you thought you could kill an ex, you probably wouldn't want it on the permanent record. You wouldn't tell me.
That's right.
Umm, OK. Because you're a girl with a guitar, most people seem to compare your stuff to other female singer-sonwriter types. For example, some writer for the New York Times mentioned you in her story about the Miami indie scene and she said, "You might hear the echoes of Kate Bush in the strummed musings of Sharlyn Evertsz." And initially, when I saw you live, I thought, Oh, she's like early Cat Power without the alcoholism. Are you mostly influenced by females? Or are the critics gender-profiling you?
It's only natural to associate me with female artists, which is great 'cause I love them, but I really relate to a lot of male musicians, like Thom Yorke, Bono, Jeff Buckley, Robert Plant, Bob Dylan, Trent Reznor, Leonard Cohen, Scott Walker, Nick Drake.
All right, screw influences... If you could punch one musician, living or dead, right in the face, who would it be?
Love-punch or hate-punch?
Your choice.
I'd love-punch Jim Morrison for dying.
Me, I'd hate-punch James Taylor. What a whiner.
