{"id":9202,"date":"2014-07-03T17:37:42","date_gmt":"2014-07-03T17:37:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stylusmagazine.ca\/?p=9202"},"modified":"2014-07-03T17:37:42","modified_gmt":"2014-07-03T17:37:42","slug":"sharon-van-etten-gets-heavy-on-are-we-there","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/2014\/07\/03\/sharon-van-etten-gets-heavy-on-are-we-there\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharon Van Etten :: Gets heavy on \u201cAre We There?\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"svexpn\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo by Andy Sears<\/p>\n

Andy Sears<\/div>\n
Andy Sears<\/div>\n

by Victoria King<\/strong><\/p>\n

While most will tell you not to judge a book by its cover, the cover of Sharon Van Etten\u2019s latest release is the picture that tells a thousand words. But all banal maxims aside, Are We There <\/i>is anything but boring, repetitive, or clich\u00e9 \u2013 in fact, she describes this record as her most personal and current release yet (and it shows).<\/p>\n

She explains that the cover of the new album conveys several of the themes that permeate throughout her latest release \u2013 motion and movement, change, and the interplay between lightness and darkness. The cover of Are We There<\/i> is a photograph of Sharon\u2019s good friend Rebecca, taken shortly before she\u2019d moved to Indiana to get married and settle down. Sharon, on the other hand, was headed to New York to pursue music.<\/p>\n

Sharon describes Are We There <\/i>(her fourth full length release) as extremely autobiographical and her \u201cheaviest\u201d album yet. \u201cNot heavy sonically,\u201d she told Stylus.<\/i> \u201cI consciously wanted it to be wide and open . . . Every other record has been a reflection of the past and having some perspective. In this one I\u2019m still in it, I\u2019m still figuring it out, I\u2019m still asking some questions. \u201d<\/p>\n

Her previous release, Tramp<\/i>, was critically acclaimed and its success secured her name in the music scene. That album featured several big names and music types, for example Aaron Dessner (the National) as the producer. Sharon said that she\u2019s grateful for the record and everyone that worked on it, though she ended up questioning why audiences were really interested in her music.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many people would ask me about the National,\u201d she confides. \u201c[They asked] more about people than content and songwriting . . . I was like, \u2018I\u2019m going to prove it to myself that I write strong songs and I don\u2019t need these people with their big names to make the song what it is.\u2019 They helped it a lot the but the bottom line was that I wrote these songs and I wanted to prove it to myself that I could do it myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Etten wrote Are We There<\/i> while touring – on the road, before sound check, and in the van. Over time, she realized that her collection of new writings was the beginnings of a new album \u2013 a very personal one that would detail her struggles to balance having a personal life and a career as a professional musician. While home in New York between tours, Etten would experiment in a new practice space where she would go and write and be loud.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ran around like a crazy person in a music playground trying everything with nobody around, no filter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not a technical person,\u201d she admits. \u201cI\u2019m very \u2018from the heart and vibe and feel.\u2019 I don\u2019t know what key I\u2019m playing in, I don\u2019t know what time signature I\u2019m playing in. But for me it\u2019s demonstrating and learning how to show emotions and learning to communicate in a different way.\u201d She pulled these new materials together and got her band working and recording. On this release, she\u2019s the producer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m asking myself after ten years of trying to pursue music, is this really the right thing?\u201d she wonders. \u201cHave I put my energy into the wrong thing, because I could have been writing all this time without trying to perform. Now I don\u2019t really have much of a life, you know? . . . It\u2019s like I chose a different path,\u201d Sharon references the front photograph and her friend\u2019s choice. \u201cMy work, my music is just as important to me as having love. The irony is that I write about it all the time and I don\u2019t have it.\u201d She laughs, \u201cSo that\u2019s what\u2019s heavy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though she might sound unsure, the powers of the cosmos (or whatever you\u2019d like to call it) have pulled together all sorts of crazy coincidences, influences and concepts in an organic fashion for Are We There <\/i>that might suggest this album was meant to be. For example, the role of French filmmaker Agnes Varda.<\/p>\n

Rebecca and Sharon sent letters to stay in touch after Rebecca moved away. In one of her letters to Etten, she included a photo of a woman who she thought looked like Etten. The photograph withstood ten years in Etten\u2019s New York apartment, subjected to the bipolar seasons and temperature fluctuations that evade New York\u2019s high rises. Etten eventually passed off the aging photograph to a friend, asking him to preserve it. This friend recognized the face of Etten\u2019s mysterious doppelganger as iconic French filmmaker Agnes Varda.<\/p>\n

After learning about her identity and longstanding career in film and art, Etten found herself sincerely relating to Varda\u2019s work, \u201cbeing a strong woman and talking about it and having a career, but having it being centered around feminism. I felt like it was a really important part of the story for this record.\u201d The first music video for the first single off the album \u201cTaking Chance\u201d is inspired by Varda\u2019s film Cl\u00e9o from 5 to 7<\/i>. Sharon laughs, \u201cEvery now and then when something like that happens I feel like it\u2019s the universe telling me I\u2019m doing the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve been wondering (as I was before speaking to her) if \u2018Are We There\u2019 is intentionally meant to be vague, the answer is yes. \u201cI wanted it to have many meanings and open and undefined in a way . . . [\u2018There\u2019] is wherever you truly want to be, in the right place or space just where you want to be. It\u2019s a good question to ask yourself: are you doing everything you want to be doing?\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharon Van Etten will be headlining the Big Blue Stage for the Winnipeg Folk Festival on Sunday, July 13. For more festival details, you can check out winnipegfolkfestival.ca<\/a><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo by Andy Sears Andy Sears Andy Sears by Victoria King While most will tell you not to judge a book by its cover, the cover of Sharon Van Etten\u2019s latest release is the picture that tells a thousand words. But all banal maxims aside, Are We There is anything but boring, repetitive, or clich\u00e9 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9202\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ckuw.ca\/stylus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}