Sharon Van Etten – Weve Been Going About This All Wrong (CD)

Sharon Van Etten has always been the kind of artist who helps people make sense of the world around them, andher sixth album, Weve Been Going About This All Wrong, concerns itself with how we feel, mourn, and reclaimour agency when we think the world – or at least, our world – might be falling apart. How do weprotect the thingsmost precious to us from destructive forces beyond our control? How do we salvage something worthwhile whenit seems all is lost? And if we cant, or we dont, have we loved as well as we could in the meantime? Did we tryhard enough? In considering these questions and her own vulnerability in the faceof them, Van Etten creates astunning meditation on how lifes changes can be both terrifying and transformative. Weve Been Going About ThisAll Wrong articulates the beauty and power that can be rescued from our wreckages.

Weve Been Going About This All Wrong is as much a reflection on how we manage the ending of metaphoricalworlds as we do the ending of actual ones: the twin flames of terror and unrelenting love that light up withmotherhood; navigating the demands of partnership when your responsibilities have changed; the loss ofcenterand safety that can come with leaving home; how the ghosts of our past can appear without warning in our present;feeling helpless with the violence and racism in the world; and yes, what it means when a global viral outbreakforces us to relinquish control of the things that have always made us feel so human, andseek new forms ofconnection to replace them.

Weve Been Going About This All Wrong is intensely personal, exploring themes like motherhood, love, fear,what we can and cant control, and what it means to be human in a world that is wracked by so much trauma. Thetrack Home To Me, written about Van Ettens son, uses the trademark dark drums of her previouswork toinvoke the sonic impression of a heartbeat. Synths grow in intensity, evoking the passing of time and the terror ofwhat it means to have your child move inevitably toward independence, wanting to hold on to them tightly enoughto protect them forever. In contrast, Come Back reflects on the desire to reconnect witha partner. Recalling allthe optimism of love felt in its infancy, Van Etten begins with the plain beauty of just her voice and a guitar, building the arrangement alongside the call to come back to anyone who has lost their way, be it from another person or from themselves. Hovering between darkness and light, Born is an exploration of the self that exists when all other labels – mother, partner, friend – are stripped back.

SIDE A:

1. Darkness Fades
2. Home to Me
3. Ill Try
4. Anything
5. Born

SIDE B:

1. Headspace
2. Come Back
3. Darkish
4. Mistakes
5. Far Away