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CRITIC REVIEWS
90
Sharon Van Etten delivers a spellbinding sixth album filled with bangers and big ballads – an intensely personal meditation on starting a new life in new home in a pandemic.
90
Ranging from elysian songs to grumbling alt-rock numbers, surging with dark forces, We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong delivers an incredibly impressive listening experience.
90
Very much the most mature Sharon Van Etten offering to date - and perhaps the most musically accomplished, too.
88
There’s a certain catharsis to much of the album that never ceases to be immensely satisfying, like she’s constantly jettisoning the dregs of what she no longer needs, and embracing that which makes her stronger, with a keen sense of emotional honesty and clarity.
84
Singer’s sixth album finds her fully in command of her ever-deepening talent.
82
In essence, it plays as a retrospective look back at Van Etten's journey through the musical landscape and the emotional arc which accompanied it, without ever feeling like a self-congratulatory greatest hits exercise.
80
Sharon Van Etten grapples with love and parenthood in pandemic times in the ten deeply felt songs on We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong.
80
The word-of-mouth praise having reached a tipping point, Van Etten capitalises by bringing together her varied styles without seeming forced.
80
At only 10 tracks and 39 minutes, it leaves you wanting more, so the logical choice is just to play it again and be mesmerized another time.
80
She holds a little bit of control before charging ahead, unlocking the connection she craves after experiencing a ceaseless stream of negativity. It's the kind of emotional catharsis all of us can relate to during these uncertian times.
80
We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong is very cohesive and every track doesn’t come off like it’s just filler material.
80
Van Etten isn't wallowing in melancholy, she's accepting the sadness along with the joy, using both emotions to push into a new stage of life. That sense of optimism, no matter how muted it may sometimes be, gives We've Been Going About This All Wrong an air of unguarded hope.
80
We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong serves to articulate feelings we have in common, and how the journey of life can be as beautiful as it is terrifying.
80
One of America’s finest songwriters designs a collection of songs to be listened to all at once.
80
Synths mimicking orchestras are pushed to their most epic limits, and Sharon Van Etten overpowers all of it as she mourns endings of all sorts – motherhood, relationships, war and peace. Her music has always felt this big. Now it sounds this big, too.
80
From start to finish there are sonic and tonal links: the opening Springsteen-ish Darkness Fades merges down the line with the Radiohead-like Darkish. What arrives in between and after is just as glorious and vital, with Van Etten’s melodic gifts very much to the fore.
80
On We've Been Going About This All Wrong, she opens those wings and takes to the sky — rather than protect from the elements, it is the elements, moving earth and water and wind through invigorating force.
80
Jersey girl turned Pilates mum makes peace with the darkness on devastating sixth album.
78
Produced in her home studio in Los Angeles, Sharon Van Etten’s sixth album embraces the complications of the past two years. It is her most epic record, yet lyrically it is her most insular.
70
While she sings of trauma and upheaval, and often emits a tender vulnerability, there’s hope, optimism and resoluteness there too.
70
The album also covers the elation many of us felt during those moments we realized how lucky we were. Lucky to still have our lives, or love, or our loved ones, or even just a shifted perspective. It’s in those moments of elation that perhaps we felt most seismically that we’ve been going about this all wrong.
70
Another collection of gorgeously moody singer-songwriter pop — see “Anything,” in which a sleepless night becomes a devastating anthem about much more.
60
It builds a new stoic eloquence into her vulnerability, even if the stark, birdsong-imbued Darkish drips with Radiohead-like ennui.
60
Holding it all together mid-pandemic, Van Etten’s sixth album of highs and lows struggles to strike a resounding chord.
60
It may lack the immediacy of 2018’s hookier ‘Remind Me Tomorrow’, but this unyielding record is, at times, a powerful reckoning with the age of uncertainty.
60
WBGATAW contains Sharon Van Etten's biggest-sounding songs to date, which is maybe to the album's detriment sometimes.
she is remarkably consistent and writes captivating songs. this is as good as anything she has done, and it's a grower. you will need a few times through to appreciate it properly. and it has those astonishing moments of depth and beauty that bring tears to your eyes. how does she do that?
EDIT: bumped it to 100. please listen to this. I mean like listen aggressively. when it clicks you will know.
Starts off insanely promising, but inevitably offers very little in the way of strong songs. It has some horrific production at some moments as well near the end. Overall a very messy and unsatisfying project
Sharon Van Etten usually provide transcendental experiences, well, it wouldn't be different in 'We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong'. In this album not everything is quite clear, perhaps nothing is transparent, better yet, everything is felt equivalent to the deept it has; Philosophical lyrics transform the listening experience into something quite touching, alongside Sharon's stunning voice, which guided my ears to oblivion or maybe somewhere close. These tracks are all very well ... read more
Some of her grandest songs are on this album. It's not one I come back to often, but I still quite enjoy it. Kinda wished Porta wasn't only on the Deluxe version though, cause it's one of my favorite songs of hers.
Darkness Fades — 8.8
Home to Me — 8.3
I’ll Try — 10
Anything — 9.5
Born — 8.6
Headspace — 10
Come Back — 9
Darkish — 7.5
Mistakes — 10
Far Away — 8
|
likes: 10/10
overall final score: 89.70
favs: Mistakes • I’ll Try • Headspace • Anything
least fav: Darkish
worst: ✘
skips: ✘
first time listening to this artist, and i loved it!
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Track List
| 1 | Darkness Fades 4:33 | 87 |
| 2 | Home to Me 3:38 | 80 |
| 3 | I'll Try 3:07 | 82 |
| 4 | Anything 2:38 | 82 |
| 5 | Born 5:02 | 85 |
| 6 | Headspace 4:26 | 86 |
| 7 | Come Back 4:29 | 84 |
| 8 | Darkish 4:04 | 77 |
| 9 | Mistakes 3:59 | 79 |
| 10 | Far Away 3:19 | 83 |
Total Length: 39 minutes
Year End Lists
| #2 | / | Sound Opinions: Greg Kot |
| #3 | / | MAGNET |
| #6 | / | WXPN |
| #8 | / | Under the Radar |
| #17 | / | Sound Opinions: Jim DeRogatis |
| #19 | / | Albumism |
| #19 | / | Uncut |
| #22 | / | Hot Press |
| #25 | / | No Ripcord |
| #31 | / | Beats Per Minute |
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1y
Fantano review, I'm sad to see that he seems to not care that much on singer songwriter projects as much as he used too. He never really mentioned songwriting here, which is one of (if not) the most important aspect (which could have helped to see the point of anything for example. Not just say "meh track", when 6 days ago it was a good track 😅😝). Otherwise fair point with the general prod/instrumentation. It's funny because I didn't find this album so monolitic but more in the wrong order.
1y
were porta and used to it not singles for an upcoming album? could there be another album on the way?
Added on: April 6, 2022