Sharon Van Etten is not lacking in self-confidence. Releasing an album with little prior notice is not generally done these days. Never mind not starting the promotional run up a few months before the record is released with a set of taster singles, generally those judged to be the best songs on the record to whet the appetite of the devotee and try to turn the heads of the as yet unconverted.
This is the low key approach Van Etten has taken on We've Been Going About This All Wrong her sixth album in all. Now it's here, what is there to listen to?
Well much what you might expect really if you gave her previous 2019's Remind Me Tomorrow a listen and you really should have done. That was something of a breakthrough for Van Etten both commercially and criticallly and We've Been Going About This... feeds on its doomed, anthemic energy.
Remind Me Tomorrow seemed to self-consciously take the Springsteen fork in the road, and featured any number of Born To Run and Thunder Road's wannabees. This one by contrast, turns down the pace a lot for the most part, more like Darkness at the Edge of Town or even Nebraska, if you want to stretch the Boss analogy.
Its not enormously convincing on first listen, coming across as slightly formulaic. but given an artist of Van Etten's talent and authority, I'll give it further plans and see what I feel a few months down the line. I suspect it will seep under my skin.
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