Album Preview: Sharon Van Etten’s “Are We There”

Best New Bands Sharon Van Etten

New York – Sharon Van Etten is a Brooklyn-based musician whose numinous talent and tell-all lyricism knifes its way into the hearts and minds of her listeners. With her fourth studio album in sight this month, two tracks are already up for public consumption. From what we’ve heard so far, Van Etten is going in for the kill once more.  Are We There is preternaturally promising, and pledges to delve yet deeper into the notoriously haunting emotional terrain she has bared since the start.

Steady as the breaking day, “Every Time the Sun Comes Up” is a calm, sauntering ballad. In as few words as possible and with solid composure, Van Etten has us hanging on her every syllable. Backed by a stable tempo and serenely mounting harmonies, the effect lends weightiness to the track. In the second single from her forthcoming album, Van Etten strings us along on a lyrical narrative that is unabashedly human. This song is ideal to play first thing in the morning, before the day’s timetable takes hold. Like splatter paint on a blank canvas, it will color your psyche.

Similarly, “Taking Chances” is a slow churning, affecting gem. This track is heavier than Van Etten’s second single, with short bursts of commanding percussion and waling guitars. Thematically, “Taking Chances” circles back to the common thread that connects much of Van Etten’s lyricism. Like a fireworks display of what goes on in this musician’s emotional epicenter, she hides nothing from her audience.

If there’s one message that permeates Van Etten’s work at large it is this: lasting love is not seamless. Her lyrics unpack this fact time and again. The long game lends rise to a playing field riddled with risk, and the emotional stakes only mount as we age. Sharon Van Etten soundtracks this churning façade succinctly.

Her work pinpoints the storm before the calm in the search for meaningful relationships, but it is also a battle cry for self-reliance. The uncertainty imbued in her writing always gives way to powerful autonomy. Scorned but not scathing, Van Etten unapologetically expresses her desires and backs her self worth acutely. In so doing, she crafts intimate and unavoidably relatable narratives that are insufferably easy to escape in.

Van Etten has been penning her vivid tracks for quite some time. Her debut studio album,Because I was In Love, surfaced in 2009 via Language of Stone. Her second studio album, Epic, saw the light of day the following year via Ba Da Bing Records. Her penultimate album was 2012’s Tramp, released by Jagjaguwar – the record label that will also host her forthcoming album.

Once, in describing this musician to my father, I claimed Van Etten as “my Laura Nyro.” I’m still not sure if this is accurate. However, it fits only because she speaks to a particular audience at a crucial stage in life. In much the same way Nyro sound tracked the most meaningful sentiments of yesteryear’s youth, Van Etten is a speaker box for this aging generation. In a word, her work is timeless.

Scheduled for release on May 27th, Are We There is significantly worth waiting for. Grappling with the pressure of delivering high caliber work yet again, Van Etten faced exacting expectations famously and self-produced the record with Stewart Lerman at Hobo Sound Studios in New Jersey and Electric Lady Studios in New York City.

Purportedly, she even used some instruments once played by John Lennon and Patti Smith for these recordings. It is entirely appropriate that she channel these idols’ legacy, as I suspect the tracks will be as ageless as what she has delivered to date. Van Etten is touring relentlessly, domestically and abroad, in support of her latest. As she does, we’ll be holding our breath for Are We There.

Liz Rowley

Liz Rowley

Born in Mexico and raised in Toronto, Jerusalem and Chicago by a pair of journalists, Liz comes to BestNewBands.com with an inherited love of writing. After discovering a niche for herself in music journalism and radio while at Bates College in Maine, she always keeps a running playlist of new music to soundtrack her place in the world. Liz is passionate about helping dedicated, talented musicians gain the exposure they deserve. A recent transplant to Brooklyn from Hawaii, she is plagued by an incurable case of wanderlust and cursed with an affinity for old maps and old things like typewriters and vintage books. She adores photography and running and is very good with plants. Having come of age in Chicago, Wilco speaks to her soul. If she could be anything, she would be a cat in a Murakami novel.
Liz Rowley