Sharon Van Etten’s Remind Me Tomorrow is Ambitious and Brutally Honest
It must take a certain amount of courage to write an album as brutally honest as Remind Me Tomorrow, to be able to release music so personal and in such an unglamourous way that you can truly connect with the listener. This however is what Sharon Van Etten does with ease on this album, there isn’t a moment throughout the whole record where you don’t believe what she’s saying, every line is delivered with passion and emotion, and you feel at times like you’re being trusted with her deepest secrets.
Remind Me Tomorrow is in essence a very raw album, over a 41 minute run time you’re treated to 10 tracks and a whole cocktail of different sounds. It’s definitely Sharon Van Etten’s most experimental and varied album to date, with elements of indie, folk, rock, lo fi, shoegaze and even the odd hint of an industrial influence in certain places.
The album opens on a steady note with the slow and ominous I Told You Everything, a track that builds and drops into a very spacious and melancholic sound. This song immediately showcases the brilliant, heartfelt and powerful vocals that are present throughout the entire record. As you move onto the second track on the album you’re hit suddenly with grungy, crunchy guitars and a much bigger in your face sound, a sign of the variety to come throughout the album. Other stand out tracks like Comeback Kid and Seventeen showcases a more rocky approach and are more singalong tunes that break the album up well. As you hit the penultimate track Hands you’re greeted with a huge unexpected powerful song with shoegaze and industrial elements that completely come from nowhere.
Sharon Van Etten has truly taken a risk with Remind Me Tomorrow, it’s a lot more ambitious than her previous releases and it has certainly paid off. The song writing feels more mature and varied, the vocal performance is out of this world and the whole album is beautifully produced. Remind Me Tomorrow is a majestic album, equally haunting and pessimistic, it’s out in the open, raw and certainly the best album Sharon Van Etten has released to date.
