Sharon Van Etten\u2019s music is imbued with the kind of intensity usually reserved for natural disasters. Her voice is a thunderous force to be reckoned with, as are her words. The potent combination has even garnered her comparisons to Cat Power and PJ Harvey. The singer-songwriter\u2019s latest album \u201cAre We There\u201d is her most personal yet, recalling details of a difficult relationship that constantly teetered on the verge of collapse. It\u2019s no wonder she describes the process of writing it \u201ca form of therapy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI hit record and sang stream of conscious for ten, twenty minutes -however long it takes for me to feel better,\u201d says Van Etten. \u201cIt\u2019s a release and most of that stuff will never see the light of day because it\u2019s too raw and super personal.\u201d<\/p>\n
But when lyrics as dark and unflinching as these make the cut:\u00a0 \u201cBreak my legs so I won\u2019t walk to you\/ Cut my tongue so I can\u2019t talk to you\/ Burn my skin so I can\u2019t feel you\/ Stab my eyes so I can\u2019t see\u201d it\u2019s hard to imagine what\u2019s she\u2019s withholding.<\/p>\n
Given the hyper-emotional nature of her songs, fans and even family sometimes worry about her well-being. \u201cMy mom gets worried about me when she hears songs like \u2018Your Love is Killing Me.\u2019 She was like \u2018I thought you were doing okay\u2019 but I\u2019m fine. I wouldn\u2019t be fine if I couldn\u2019t write. I compartmentalize it. I move on and I\u2019m better for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
And while watching Sharon Van Etten perform live you can tell she\u2019s more than fine. On stage she\u2019s full of witty banter. Between songs of heartbreak and woe,\u00a0 she cracks jokes with her bandmates. It\u2019s a jarring juxtaposition to be sure.\u00a0 I\u2019m relieved to find out she\u2019s just like her on-stage self in real life too. Over the phone, Van Etten sounds lighthearted, nearly relaxed. She even permits me a moment of fangirl gushing, as I discuss how her last album, 2012\u2019s \u201cTramp,\u201d helped me through some pretty major life transitions. The details I provide are almost as raw and non-sequitur as her lyrics. When I apologize for digressing, she chuckles and tells me to \u201cbabble on!\u201d Though I imagine she must hear these types of anecdotes all the time. In many ways her music has created an emotional dialogue with her fans, the kind that often manifests itself through tear stains on pillows.<\/p>\n
But as we steer the conversation back to Van Etten\u2019s current work, she remains remarkably at ease for someone enduring the rigors of a touring lifestyle. At the moment she\u2019s in the van making the trek from Nashville to Denver. A daunting cross-country leap for most, Van Etten sees it as just another day on the road.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel a responsibility to go out on the road. I think a big part of it is about connecting and performing and meeting the people that care about. It\u2019s hard to be gone nine months out of the year but it\u2019s also I\u2019m responsible for employing five other people we all take really good care of each other. I think thats very rare for this many people in a car to connect the way we\u2019ve connected. it\u2019s very nurturing but it\u2019s very tough. It\u2019s rough but it\u2019s fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s no surprise then that distance, both literal and figurative, is a major theme on \u201cAre We There.\u201d Van Etten describes it as purposely open-ended question, one she likes to asks herself not only about her geographic whereabouts but the larger state of her life. Plus it ties in really nicely with the cover art,\u00a0 a black and white photograph of a girl embarking on life on the road.<\/p>\n
[blockquote author=”\u2014Sharon van Etten”]”I think listening to what the core of the song is, without burying it is pretty important. And to respect the practice of restraint. But sometimes the song wants to be this big thing, and you let it be a beast, too.”[\/blockquote]<\/p>\n
In regards to the state of her music Van Etten\u2019s more confident than ever, as \u201cAre We There\u201d marks her first attempt at self-production. \u201cIt was important of me to feel in control of an album for a change because every other album someone\u2019s held my hand and had their own interpretations of my songs, which I really appreciate and I grew a lot from that experience and I just want feel and know for sure that its everything that I wanted and a sound that I created not because my older brother was looking out for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sounds Van Etten managed to create perfectly compliment the heartbreak of her words. Organ drones, tinkling pianos, drum machine clicks and layers of haunting harmonies culminate in a singular vision, one that could only be her own. There\u2019s a greater level of both intensity and intimacy that come across with her newfound musical ownership. Volatility and vulnerability are present in equal measures. According to Van Etten, it took careful discernment to strike the right balance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think listening to what the core of the song is, without burying it is pretty important. And to respect the practice of restraint. But sometimes the song wants to be this big thing and you let it be a beast, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
While listening to \u201cAre We There\u201d it\u2019s hard to believe such a gorgeous, confident album is the result of self-doubt and second-guessing. \u201cI think I ended up walking away from the last album a little insecure about why people latched on to it,\u201d says Van Etten. \u201cI was afraid it was because of the star-studded cast. i just wanted to make sure it was about my songs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Members of The National, Wye Oak and Beirut are among the many high-profile artists Van Etten has collaborated with on past records.\u00a0 She evened secured a coveted spot opening for Nick Cave on his last North American tour. As he\u2019s a major inspiration, Van Etten couldn\u2019t turn the gig down even if it meant additional months away from home and her boyfriend at the time. It was also during that tumultuous time that Van Etten got to see a very different side of the venerated Australian rocker.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe looked out for us like we were his daughters, like watching how much we were drinking checking to see if we were smoking. He was a total sweetheart and still a badass, but I like that I got to see that side of him.\u201d<\/p>\n
While speaking with Sharon, I think similar thoughts about the duality of her personality. It\u2019s nice to hear the woman who sings with such aching vulnerability speak so joyfully. That dichotomy also reminds me of one of \u201cAre We There\u2019s\u201d the more humorous lines \u201cI washed your dishes\/ But I shit in your bathroom.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it\u2019d be funny to have something a little lighthearted,\u201d Van Etten says of that lyric. \u201cAnd remind people I\u2019m okay and they\u2019re okay, too.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sharon Van Etten\u2019s music is imbued with the kind of intensity usually reserved for natural disasters. Her voice is a thunderous force to be reckoned with, as are her words. The potent combination has even garnered her comparisons to Cat Power and PJ Harvey. The singer-songwriter\u2019s latest album \u201cAre We There\u201d is her most personal yet, recalling details of a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":2783,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[49],"tags":[55],"class_list":["post-2778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-sharon-van-etten"],"acf":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paoQFa-IO","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/notofu.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/notofu.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/notofu.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/notofu.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/notofu.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/notofu.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/notofu.com\/new\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/notofu.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/notofu.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/notofu.com\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}