June 15, 2015

Sharon Van Etten’s Anguished Territory


Sharon Van Etten
I Don’t Want to Let You Down
Jagjaguwar

When it comes to harrowing beauty, Sharon Van Etten’s music has no peer. Following last year’s dazzling album Are We There, this stunning five-song EP of gorgeous chamber pop returns to the same anguished territory, plumbing the depths of damaged relationships and massive self-doubt with unsparing candor. The desperate sentiments of the title track or “I Always Fall Apart” might veer into melodramatic excess if not for Van Etten’s understated but wonderfully expressive singing, which lends a ring of plainspoken truth to the darkest scenarios. Despite the mournful vibes, I Don’t Want to Let You Down is ultimately exhilarating, simply because it’s thrilling to see a gifted artist in full command of her substantial powers.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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