Sharon Van Etten’s Sonic Exploration

In the three years since we’ve heard new music from Sharon Van Etten, she has experienced myriad changes in her life. She had a child, went back to school, guest-starred on a major TV show, and composed her first film score, all while working on the follow-up to 2014’s critically acclaimed Are We There (and the subsequent EP of tunes left off it – 2015’s I Don’t Want to Let You Down). And within the first few minutes of her new record, Remind Me Tomorrow, it is clear she is navigating the chaos she’s juggling with grace and intense focus.

If you were only to listen to the album’s first track, “I Told You Everything,” you might think Remind Me Tomorrow is a more familiar version of Van Etten. It’s a beautiful song about vulnerability, with her signature keys and soft vocals, and it would have been right at home on Are We There (in fact, it’s first few notes may trick you into thinking you’re listening to that record’s opening track “Afraid of Nothing”). Lyrically, though, it sets the tone for Van Etten’s headspace on this album. She’s laying it all out on the table, raw emotions on full display. She channels this all over Remind Me Tomorrow, from the pop rock head-banger “Seventeen” to the frenetic, dark “No One’s Easy to Love,” and the spacey, electronic “Memorial Day.”

“Seventeen” has emerged as the album’s single and presents a completely different turn for Van Etten. It is euphoric and explosive, rather than her often meditative, measured sound. “Comeback Kid” has a similar vibe, having evolved from a piano ballad to a powerful, noisy rock number. Hearing Van Etten expand in this way is empowering and thrilling to behold. You will want repeat listens of the synthy ’80s jam “Jupiter 4,” and the catchy, melodic pop dream “Malibu.”

Both as a singer and a songwriter, we are reminded of the vulnerability Van Etten conveys with that deep, haunting wail we have come to love so much over the years, even as Remind Me Tomorrow finds her exploring new sonic territory.