Sharon Van Etten & Opinions on Jamila Woods

Sharon

Edgy folk-rocker Sharon Van Etten is busier than ever after quitting the music industry four years ago. Now she's back and experimenting with new sounds, like the vintage synthesizer that lives in her New York City rehearsal space. Sharon joins Jim and Greg for an interview and performance of music from her latest release, Remind Me Tomorrow. They also review the new record from Chicago singer and poet Jamila Woods.

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Sharon Van Etten

Between 2009 and 2014 Sharon Van Etten released four critically-acclaimed albums full of songs addressing trauma, broken hearts and toxic relationships. Fans were responding and her career was on the ascent, but Van Etten says revisiting the pain behind those songs night after night was wearing on her. Her idea was to take some time away so she could gain positive life experiences that might inspire a different kind of song. One of Van Etten's non-musical goals was to become a licensed therapist (inspired by interactions she'd had with some of her fans), so she began taking classes once she left the road.

Her hiatus also allowed for more time at home with her partner and giving birth to her first child. Those relationships led to Van Etten writing new music- first as love songs to her partner, then upon revision, to her son. Those songs were transformed again by the results of the 2016 presidential election and a vintage synthesizer  Michael Cera left in the practice space they shared in New York.

Van Etten's fifth album, Remind Me Tomorrow, came out in January and Jim and Greg agree, it's one of her best. Van Etten performed "No One’s Easy To Love," "Comeback Kid" and "Jupiter 4" for Sound Opinions with her band at Thalia Hall in Chicago.

Legacy! Legacy! Jamila Woods

jamila woods

On Legacy! Legacy!, the second full length project from Jamila Woods, the singer and poet draws from a rich history of artists whose work "provide(s) the idea of creation as a form or resistance," according to Greg. Each track is inspired by and named for a legendary creator of color, from "MUDDY" (as in blues behemoth Muddy Waters) to "ZORA" (as in writer and ethnographer Zora Neale Hurston). The music draws from a wide sonic palate, as well, incorporating trip-hop, jazz, r&b, and soul. For the album, Jamila worked with young Chicago producers such as Nico Segal and Peter Cottontale. Greg calls it a "powerful" work. Jim ultimately fell in love with the record and notes that "this is rare album that would benefit from a lyric sheet" to fully absorb the references to a "panoply of African-American artistic contributions."

Greg

This week, it's Greg's turn to pop a quarter in the desert island jukebox and play a song he can't live without. After the Sharon Van Etten conversation, Greg has the Jupiter 4 synthesizer on the brain and picked one of his favorite songs that expertly uses the instrument. He chose "Thirty Frames A Second" by Simple Minds off their 1980 album Empires and Dance. While Simple Minds is best known for "Don’t You (Forget About Me)," Greg prefers their earlier material. The band's usage of the Jupiter 4 on "Thirty Frames A Second" is eerie, inventive and danceable.

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