Sharon Van Etten’s career since the release of her second album, 2010’s epic is well-known; critically lauded albums, films, and television shows have continually displayed her expanding artistry. Upon its release, epic laid a romantic melancholy over the gravel and dirt of heartbreak without one honest thought or feeling spared. Her songs covered betrayal, obsession, egotism, and all the other emotions we dislike in others and recognize in ourselves. Van Etten’s grounded and clenched vocals conveyed a sense of hope–the notion that beauty can arise from the worst of circumstances.
The resulting epic Ten is a double LP featuring the original album plus the new album of epic covers and reimagined artwork.
“Epic” laid a romantic melancholy over the gravel and dirt of heartbreak without one honest thought or feeling spared. Her songs covered betrayal, obsession, egotism, and all the other emotions we dislike in others and recognize in ourselves. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of this special album’s release, and to acknowledge the convergence of Van Etten’s present and past work, she asked fellow artists she admired to participate in an expanded reissue, where each artist would cover one different song from epic in their own style.
The music of Sharon Van Etten offers this strangely familiar ethic and aesthetic. She is Patti Smith finishing a pint of Pilsner as the pool cue cracks in the back of the dive bar.
Van Etten’s newest release, “Epic Ten”, is unlike any other. In one sense, it’s a reissue of her 2010 sophomore record, Epic. But it’s also much more. The reissue includes covers of each song from the original release from such heavyweights as IDLES, Lucinda Williams, Courtney Barnett, and Fiona Apple. In this way, “Epic Ten” is two albums at once in a compact 14 tracks, ranging in creative impact from Van Etten’s ghostly harmonies to IDLES’ industrial wallop.
The record begins with the acoustic-propelled “A Crime.” The lyrics, saturated with anger and remorse, are also breathy, dreamy. But through the sonic lens of Aaron Dessner and Bon Iver’s Big Red Machine, the song is more electric, like a Radiohead song played through a spotty AM radio connection in a beautiful contrast. “Peace Signs” harkens to ’90s rock ‘n’ roll, part Smashing Pumpkins, part Melissa Etheridge. All the while the kick drum bangs. When IDLES take hold on the record’s flip side, that kick portends guttural screams, an explosion.
On “Save Yourself,” Van Etten sings over slide guitars. There’s a new eeriness to her voice now—she’s the last person in the Dust Bowl, and she has one last song to sing. Lucinda Williams understands this mood, she was once that person, too. And her rendition is elongated, patient, dark. By “Dsharpg,” Van Etten has become the breeze through cracked slats in the attic. She is the sound of one’s own personal church. Shamir laser focuses this vibe and offers a neon blue candle to pray to on his cover.
Mid-album track “Don’t Do It” is reflective. It’s a gritty electric guitar with an angel moaning in the distance. Van Etten is low-eyed, fed up at the heft while also acknowledging there are better days ahead. It’s bad, but not all bad. When sung by Courtney Barnett and Vagabon, the song is up front, close, in your ear. It’s as if Barnett doesn’t feel the song itself is enough at this point.
On the album’s penultimate track, “One Day,” Van Etten seems to be remembering the important days now in her rearview mirror. It’s a song she might sing in the tour van, the rest of the band strumming guitars, playing tambourines as the highway stretches past. St. Panther takes the song in the direction of bedroom pop, made with a laptop and the buzz from caffeine at three in the morning.
“Love More” has a solid perspective—it’s the song of someone who’s accepted adulthood and the very personal ups and downs that inevitably come along with that. Friends leave, loved ones pass, but the strength to sing can still grow stronger. Though life is dangerous and dramatic, there is hope, if only borne from your own voice. Perhaps no one knows that better than Fiona Apple. For the one who told us to “fetch the bolt cutters,” fame has been painful. Growth out of that is the only medicine, escape.
Sharon Van Etten’s “Epic Ten” anniversary reissue arrives on digital platforms tomorrow, and now she’s shared the final advance single: a cover of “Love More” by recent Grammy winner Fiona Apple.
The double-disc “Epic”reissue has already spawned several thrilling updates to old songs: Big Red Machine’s “A Crime”, IDLES’ “Peace Signs”, Shamir’s “Dsharpg”, and Courtney Barnett and Vagabon’s “Don’t Do It”. “Love More” is the closing track to both Epicand Epic Ten, and Fiona Apple puts her mark on the song right from the beginning with newly-added claps and hand drums. Where the original derived its atmospheric power from pulsing synths and the sparing use of percussion, Apple’s take comes with gentle pianos and insistent heartbeat drums.
In a statement, Van Etten wrote about the darkness that inspired “Love More”, and how Apple’s version reframes the song with “the hope it deserves.” She said,
“The emotional rawness and visceral angst and honesty of Fiona Apple’s music was first met by my teenage years, sharing a bedroom with my little sister — who so patiently studied for school as I tried to write, sing, and play guitar in a way I wasn’t ready for yet. Fiona made me want to be a better player. She made me want to have something to say. Although music has always been an important outlet for me, I knew I hadn’t lived like she had. Having no concept of age, I heard her voice as experienced and wise and someone that I wanted to be or to know. I carried her with me. “The closest we came to meeting was when we played SXSW at Stubbs back to back in 2012 and I teenagerly posed in front of her road case. I dared not overstep the line of comfort at a festival… but her set was incredible. New, and true to herself and vulnerable… “Love More is the most revealing song about one of the hardest times in my life, and the mark of change. When I admitted I needed help. When I leaned on others and acknowledged my weaknesses, when I was accepted at my lowest of lows, with support, and was able to move on. I was in a dark place when I wrote this song, I was in a safer space when I was able to record it, and now that Fiona’s version will exist in this universe, it helps me feel even farther away from the darkness I had to experience in order to write this song. She brings it life and light. She has given me her hand after all these years… and it is with pure joy to finally share this song in a brand new light by someone I always wished I could be. “Thank you, Fiona. I admire you so much and now I wish for everyone to hear this song with the hope it deserves. It is so nice to meet you. Xoxo”
In total, Van Etten’s reissue of Epic Ten is a success. She’s achieved the relighting of her past release while doing so with a fresh torch. With hope, the album will burn long and in many hearts.
You can listen to “Love More” below. Epic Tenmakes its digital debut tomorrow, April 16th, with physical versions arriving June 11th via Ba Da Bing Records. Besides that, Van Etten will stream an Epic Tendocumentary and full-album concert on April 16th and 17th, with a portion of proceeds benefiting the Los Angeles venue Zebulon.
Shamir is Shamir and remains Shamir through and through, no matter what the universe puts him through. This album is so different than anything Shamir has released in their discography. It’s more pop rock than anything before this. I can see myself jamming to this live at a festival. But we can’t do that, so a festival at home while playing this album will have to do. Stand out tracks include On My Own, Pretty When I’m Sad, Diet & In this Hole.
I’m all about albums that move from genre to genre with ease. Shamir has done that with this record, with a few skits thrown in for good measure. We get some country “Other Side”, indie rock “Pretty When I’m Sad” and “Paranoia”, and pop “Running”. Shamir’s voice is very much the hook here as that high pitch singing sounds like no one else. “On My Own” also swings towards pop and feels like an anthem for feeling comfortable in your own skin. “Diet” has such a great groove to it that I found myself dancing around no matter when I listened to it. “I Wonder” is truly a heart breaking song that sounds like Shamir was going through that moment in a relationship where you look at the other person and go, “is this going to work?.” “In This Hole” ends the record as Shamir reaches deep down inside to deliver the lyrics as strings swirl around eventually taking over and fading out. It’s a gorgeous end to the quick album and it leaves you more than satisfied.
Shamir called this his “most commercial-sounding” album since his 2015 debut, but whatever mainstream leanings it might have did not compromise how vibrant or creative he could get. The 25-year-old singer-songwriter performs synth-pop, Gun Club country punk, and shoegaze all with the same confidence and charisma, in a voice that can transform any anxious misgivings into reassurance. “I prefer to be alone, but you can join if you like/I’ll stay strong for you ’cause I don’t want to be seen when I cry,” he sings on “Running,” speaking as much to his audience as he is to himself.
Shamir embraces a balance between composure and restless dissatisfaction throughout his self-titled album. He vividly captures a Gen Z-specific angst and stewing inner conflict: “Smoke all the weed so I can cover my anxiety,” he confesses on “Paranoia.” Indeed, some of the best moments on the album explore the contradictions of the self and the paradoxical relationship between thoughts and behaviors. Stylistically, Shamir is a hodgepodge of the different approaches the artist has employed in the past, synthesized into a mostly satisfying pop-rock sound. Still, Shamir’s penchant for melody and introspection have proved adaptable to any genre that he fancies at any given moment, characterizing even his most lo-fi work with a pleading humanity. No matter how roomy or tight the mix is, or whether he’s caught in a moment of self-doubt or soaring confidence, he brings a sweet buoyancy to his music that carries Shamir, while also peeking into the torment of being inside his own head.
There’s a lot to love leading up to next week’s eponymous effort from Shamir, but nothing quite brings it back home from the indie-pop polymath than when he winks at Nashville in the way he does whenever he puts a butterfly spin on Stetsons and pedal steel. “Other Side” is probably the most fully realized version of Shamir’s country crossover dalliances since kicking up some dust in 2018′s “Room” single.
Here, he resolves the brooding cow-punk darkness inspired by a true unsolved mystery with an idealized Hallmark Channel movie ending in the listen’s country-pop plucked banjo tumbling throughout its chorus. Where as the love tales heard churning out from the big machine are often sanitized in predictable visions created by a white-washed Americana, Shamir taps into something a little more real in his take on a happy ending: faith in spite of the unknown.
Shamir’s “Shamir” will be self-released October 2nd.
Shamir has released a surprise 8-track album called Resolution. A heavy, guitar-leaning effort, the album follows Shamir’s recent “double A-side” single “Room,” which is now also available on his Bandcamp. Last year, Shamir released his album Revelations on Father Daughter Records after a dispute with XL Records.
He also shared his new previously-announced 7″ EP called Room. The latter features the title track on the A-side and “Caballero” on the B-side. Listen to both projects below. Resolution marks the singer’s third album in two years, following last November’s Revelations and last April’s Hope (which was also surprise released). Shamir and Mac DeMarco are set to release a joint 7″ vinyl for Record Store Day 2018(April 21st), featuring their respective covers of Beat Happening songs. Its pointedly political and personal. The opener, “I Can’t Breathe,” paints a chilling picture of police brutality and the lack of consequences perpetrators often face with heavy allusion to Eric Garner and Tamir Rice. “Panic” and “Dead Inside” deals frankly with anxiety and depression, and Shamir made sure mental health has been at the forefront of conversations about his new music.
Since self-releasing Hopeon SoundCloud in April 2017, Shamir has improved as a songwriter across each project, tackling heavy topics both personal and social with deftness and grace. The guitar tone and production on Resolutionare gritty and textural, a perfect juxtaposition for his feathery falsetto, making it a fascinating record both thematically and sonically.
Shamir has returned from whence he came, with two new songs that celebrate this one of a kind artist’s love of country music. Out now on Father/Daughter Records both as a limited 7” vinyl and digital release, Room features the first two new tracks from Shamir since the DIY darling’s critically acclaimed November 2017 album Revelations. The two songs onRoom are produced by Big Taste, the Los Angeles based songwriter, producer, and vocalist who has worked with Justin Bieber, Dua Lipa, and Adam Lambert.
The A-side is the twang tinged title track, which has the accidental popstar self-harmonizing in an upbeat ode to the stillness & confusion depression can bring. It’ll move both your heart and your hips wildly in unison. The B-side is the galloping “Caballero” with a guitar riff that runs like a wild stallion off into the sunset. Shamir kicks-up desert dust with relatable lyrics like “Cuz I don’t wanna be in like with you because it turns to love and all lovers do is fall out of love, cuz everything ends and you’re stuck having to begin again.”
Released March 9th, 2018 Shamir , Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
After quickly rising to underground fame with his Northtown EP in 2014, the DIY popstar made a sonic splash with Rachet’s lead single “On The Regular,” a poppy banger and commercial success. But how to follow all that up? Shamir, who came from the dusty dunes of Las Vegas, to Brooklyn’s Silent Barn, to the Philly indie scene (and all over the world inbetween), wanted to go back to what had inspired him from the beginning. Outsider music, country & punk. Raw & vulnerable tunes, stripped down to their emotional core. And what do you do if XL drops you? If you’re Shamir, you put out an album you recorded yourself all in one weekend, whilst questioning the decision to quit music. The record was called Hope and Shamir self-released it via SoundCloud during the spring of 2017, with no promotion or label support. Regardless & naturally, it was a critical hit.
Now, happily joining San Francisco based indie label Father/Daughter Records, Shamir is excited to share his upcoming new album, titled Revelations, out November 3rd, 2017. Recorded May 2017 in his hometown following the release of Hope, Revelations is full of what the titled implies. The new album is stacked with stunning exhalations of emotion, as Shamir continues making music for misfits and those of us who feel so emo sometimes that we get annoyed at how we’re a cliché, but see the beauty in it anyway. Revelations is much more minimal in instrumentation & production compared to Rachet, but is even more full in sound and feeling. In some other timeline, there’s an unknown John Hughes film entirely set to Revelations. It’s the warmth in this apocalyptic neon and pastel future we find ourselves in. It’s the breath we take when we look up from our phones. They’re Shamir’s Revelations, and you should listen up.
The Fat Angel Sings 