Sharon Van Etten "We've Been Going About This All Wrong" (2022)

We've Been Going About This All Wrong

release date: May 6, 2022

format: digital (14 x File, FLAC) (Deluxe Edition)

[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,66]

producer: Sharon Van Etten and Daniel Knowles

label: Jagjaguwar - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Darkness Fades" - 5. "Born" - 6. "Headspace" - 7. "Come Back" - 9. "Mistakes" - *12. "Porta" - *14. "When I Die"

*bonus track on Deluxe Edition

6th studio album by Sharon Van Etten follows more than 3 years after Remind Me Tomorrow (Jan. 2019). The album has been described by Etten as her 'pandemic record', and that becomes clearer upon listening to a more introvert and desolate collection of songs than what she normally puts out - and that even says quite a bit 'cause Van Etten is an artist who has released albums that reek inner perspective more than anything. In that regard, this new album is two-tongued exposing inner thoughts and sentiments but at the same dealing with a pandemic catastrophe as an outer dialogue. It's about climate, about making the wrong choices on behalf of humanity and life as such. The cover nicely depicts the danger with luring flames, threating homes and nature by eating up everything. The standard edition of the album comes with ten tracks running for a total of 39 minutes - the Deluxe Edition extends it to 55 minutes.

Much as usual, a new Van Etten album takes processing. At first it may sound familiar and alike her previous releases, as a mock up of sorts but given attention, it stands much on its own, with fragility as a common determinator of every song on yet another fine album.

Recommended.

[ Exclaim!, PopMatters 4 / 5, Pitchfork 7,8 / 10, 👉Rolling Stone 3,5 / 5, 👎The Guardian, NME 3 / 5 stars ]

Sharon Van Etten "Remind Me Tomorrow" (2019)

Remind Me Tomorrow
release date: Jan. 18, 2019
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,76]
producer: John Congleton
label: Jagjaguwar - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "I Told You Everything" - 2. "No One's Easy to Love" - 4. "Comeback Kid" - 5. "Jupiter 4" - 6. "Seventeen" - 7. "Malibu" - 10. "Stay"

5th studio album by Sharon Van Etten follows nearly 5 years after the 2014 predecessor and is produced by star-producer John Congleton who has worked with Erykah Badu, David Byrne, Lana Del Rey, Jens Lekman, Modest Mouse, Sigur Rós and St. Vincent - to mention but a few. Stylistically, Van Etten doesn't generally release a new album like the former, it seems. Here, she has moved away from the alt.country codes and instead moved into the crowded territory of indie pop and synthpop. It's still also a singer / songwriter release, which also makes it unmistakably Van Etten. Her fine mellow (singing) tone overshadows stylistic changes, which dwells on slow repetitive rhythms but also more vibrant quirkiness that in some ways have her share DNA with St. Vincent - though just slightly enough to make the comparison and at the same time, too little to call it similar. Van Etten is still one of a kind, and although it may not be up there with her great Are We There from 2014, this is another fine album from her warm hands.
Remind Me Tomorrow showcases Van Ettens great potential as someone to pay attention to. It has been lauded as one of the best album releases of the year, and she doesn't hesitate out new angles and styles on an album that puts her closer to St. Vincent than ever before. I find it refreshing 'though I don't find it up there alongside her great 2014 album, which is her clearly so far best album.
[ allmusic.com 4,5 / 5, 👍NME, Rolling Stone, The Guardian 4 / 5 stars ]

Sharon Van Etten "Are We There" (2014)

Are We There
release date: May 26, 2014
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [4,04]
producer: Sharon Van Etten, Stewart Lerman
label: Jagjaguwar - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Afraid of Nothing" (live) - 2. "Taking Chances" (4,5 / 5) - 3. "Your Love Is Killing Me" - 4. "Our Love" - 5. "Tarifa" - 6. "I Love You But I'm Lost" (live) - 8. "Break Me" - 11. "Every Time the Sun Comes Up"

4th studio album [not counting her 4-5 non-label and self-released albums and mini-albums as CD-R handouts] by Sharon Van Etten released on the independent label Jagjaguwar.
Stylistically, Van Etten embraces the huge singer / songwriter pool of indie pop and indie folk with equal bits of alt. country and alt. rock.
The album was met by almost universal acclaim, and was Van Etten's commercial breakthrough album peaking at position #25 on the Billboard 200 and as high as #6 on the Top Alternative Albums chart list in the US, and the album was enlisted on allmusic.com's list of "Favorite Indie Pop and Indie Rock Albums" alongside acclaimed artists like Lykke Li, Fear of Men, Future Islands, Little Dragon, Owen Pallett, Swans, and St. Vincent.
The album has really grown on me over the past 3-4 years, and I must confess to have re-discovered Van Etten a bit late as someone to pay attention to, and Are We There was also my first encounter with her music. At first I found her a bit colourless and anonymous, but it seems she has kicked in a door and invited me in 'cause all I hear now is truly fine musicianship. Her voice is quite original - somewhere between strong female artists like Patti Smith, Cat Power, PJ Harvey and Lana Del Rey. Her tonal singing voice contains the strong blatant explosiveness of Smith and Harvey but also the mellow-inner-felt melancholic alto of Power and Del Rey. Some have mentioned her as a female counterpart to Nick Cave. I don't consent to that comparison but understand what people imply with a "dark" lyrical universe, though I find the three former artists share more of the same characteristics. Some times I think more of the female Stuart Staples, but why the need to compare? Van Etten is great on her own terms. Just leave her time to find the door in. The album is easily her best album out and a natural contender to album of the year.
This is an extraordinary and highly recommendable gem.
[ allmusic.com, Q, NME, Rolling Stone 4 / 5 stars ]

2014 Favourite releases: 1. Ukendt Kunstner Forbandede ungdom - 2. Kent Tigerdrottningen - 3. Sharon Van Etten Are We There

Sharon Van Etten "Tramp" (2012)

Tramp
release date: Feb. 7, 2012
format: cd
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,58]
producer: Aaron B. Dessner
label: Jagjaguwar - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "Warsaw" - 2. "Give Out" (live on KEXP) - 3. "Serpents" - 4. "Kevin's" - 5. "Leonard" - 7. "All I Can" - 9. "Magic Chords"

3rd studio album by Sharon Van Etten is a continued indie pop and singer / songwriter release which balances somewhere between slow and subtle ballads and a turn towards more aggressive / electrified indie rock with reminiscences of garage rock. Without a clear cut of two halves, the first part of the album is primarily the most electrified with the second half reflecting stronger bonds to her 2010 album, Epic.
The album may be without obvious single hits but turns out as a fine and coherent release, and Van Etten's mournful singing makes me think of Cat Power but also makes me think of Van Etten as the American PJ Harvey.
The album is a fine grower once you allow yourself to let it flourish.
[ allmusic.com 3,5 / 5, NME 4,5 / 5, Q, Rolling Stone, Spin, Mojo 4 / 5 stars ]

Sharon Van Etten "Epic" (2010)

Epic
release date: Oct. 11, 2010
format: cd
[album rate: 4 / 5] [3,77]
producer: Brian McTear
label: Ba Da Bing! Records - nationality: USA

Track highlights: 1. "A Crime" - 2. "Peace Signs" (live on KEXP) - 3. "Save Yourself" (live) - 5. "Don't Do It" (live) - 6. "One Day" (live on KEXP)

2nd studio album (on an official label) by Sharon Van Etten is a semi-acoustic and primarily indie folk release with 7 tracks and a running time just over 32 mins.
I didn't listen to the album until 2014 after having found her fine Are We There from that year, and although, I don't find it quite as great as that, I have come to enjoy it for its simplistic, yet strong and secure sound. Van Etten is a female crooner, who sounds like someone who's always been around. Her singing voice is a fine tuned instrument that goes hand in hand with so many genres.
The album is an immediate bliss.
[ allmusic.com, PopMatters 4 / 5 stars ]