Sharon Van Etten - I Don't Want To Let You Down EP (Album Review)
Friday, 12 June 2015
Written by Huw Baines
It’s strange to think of there being loose ends, or spare parts, left over from ‘Are We There’, Sharon Van Etten’s heartbreaking fourth album. Released last spring, it captured the painful aftermath of a broken relationship with levels of wit, craft and candour beyond most artists. It felt all-encompassing.
‘I Don’t Want To Let You Down’, then, represents something of a surprise, albeit a welcome one. The four newly unveiled songs that make up the EP betray Van Etten’s songwriting guile and exacting standards, but they also don’t really fit the overarching route charted by ‘Are We There’. They are cut from the same cloth, but represent either stylistic sore thumbs or slight changes in perspective. What they do share with that record is their quality.
The title track has a breezy gait but struggles with the weight of expectation and long-term effects of a life in music, while I Always Fall Apart also has a view for the past and Van Etten’s career. It’s a low-lit, brooding powerhouse.
Just Like Blood, on a musical level, is the real find here. It’s a narrative brimming with anger and regret, but is presented with a typically idiosyncratic melody. Its compositional strength gives its lyrical power the chance to take hold.
The fifth track included, the ‘Tramp’-era Tell Me, appears in a live format and suggests that Van Etten, plus band, may be among the few people left who could put together a compelling concert record. As a coda here, it works. It’s also good to have a somewhat definitive version of a fine song.
Van Etten doesn’t put records out lightly and ‘I Don’t Want To Let You Down’ is emblematic of that. It’s quietly impressive, effective in a slow burn fashion and further evidence of her paint-stripping honesty.
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
We don't run any advertising! Our editorial content is solely funded by lovely people like yourself using Stereoboard's listings when buying tickets for live events. To keep supporting us, next time you're looking for concert, festival, sport or theatre tickets, please search for "Stereoboard". It costs you nothing, you may find a better price than the usual outlets, and save yourself from waiting in an endless queue on Friday mornings as we list ALL available sellers!
.jpg)
