“People say I’m a one-hit wonder, but what happens when I have two?” ponders Sharon Van Etten on Even When The Sun Comes Up, the final song of her fourth album. The best guess is that she’s talking about her relationships or something other than her music, considering her discography is a top-quality selection, with a sound that has gained in confidence and eloquence with each release.The self-produced Are We There is another assured step forward.
There’s nothing on here as aggressive and instantly catchy as Tramp’s surging highlight Serpents. Instead, Van Etten takes a softer approach to sonics and tempo, but channels her intensity within weighty ballads to powerful effect. This is best realised on the stunning Your Love Is Killing Me, with Van Etten’s propulsive delivery of the lyric “You tell me that you like it” sending chills down the spine. The weak spot is the mid-tempo, bland Our Love; it aims to bring in some light during a dark run of songs early in the album, but sounds like water-treading compared to the other, far superior, songs.
Another lyric that jumps out from the closing song is “I washed your dishes, but I shitted in your bathroom”, which is in keeping with the previous album’s admission of “I am bad at loving you” (from Leonard). Luckily, bad loving from Sharon Van Etten translates as another excellent album for us.
BY CHRIS GIRDLER
Best Track: Your Love Is Killing Me
If You Like These, You’ll Love This: Horses PATTI SMITH, Burn Your Fire For No Witness ANGEL OLSEN
In A Word: Confessional
