Van Etten

As we've been saying, so far 2019 is shaping up to be a good year for music.  We've already covered Vampire Weekend and Better Oblivion Community Center (who sold out Terminal West within an hour of going on sale and before we could buy our own tickets), and for some reason Panda Bear, but the big story (at least so far) is the triumphant return of Sharon Van Etten.

We've been fans since the beginning and have seen her perform numerous times, but Van Etten took a few years off, completing a degree in psychology, reportedly entering a fulfilling relationship, and giving birth to her first child.  All of that apparently took six years, and Remind Me Tomorrow is her first record since 2014.      

Remind Me Tomorrow is Van Etten's strongest record yet - the time off did her well.  It's her first bona fide rock record - previously, she dabbled in folk, folk-rock, and what we'll call, for lack of a better term. the indie singer-songwriter genre.  There's nothing wrong with any of that and as we said, we were fans, bi\ut Van Etten just blows the roof off the studio with her new performances.  There was a time when we thought we would never see her wearing glam-rock makeup like she does in Comeback Kid or stand on top of a ladder on the beach and scream her lungs out like she does at the 3:00-minute mark of Seventeen.

Comeback Kid and Seventeen are clearly the stand-out singles, but if you get the chance, you should really give the whole album a listen - it's well worth your time.  And we couldn't be happier for the apparent peace, happiness, and self-assurance Van Etten seems to have found.