Sharon Van Etten - 'Comeback Kid' — When The Horn Blows

Apparently, Sharon Van Etten didn't want this song to be pretty. She kinda succeeded...

Sharon Van Etten is at her best musically when she is at her worst personally. Her breakthrough "Tramp" was written whilst coming out of a brutally abusive relationship and whilst the relationship she was experiencing during the recording of "Are We There" wasn't quite as violent- it's toxicity inspired a beautifully dark humoured record which managed to hit the top ten. She is also at her best when she's scouring the 20th Century's western musical traditions and making it her own- blues, folk and roots are something that's been very clear to identify in her music. Comeback Kid is almost a celebration of her coming out of the other side of her pain and confusion and has moved her musical ear to the pulsing electronic anthems of the last ten years. Surely something isn't right...

Oddly enough, this could be Van Etten's strongest moment yet. Moving away from her personal trauma, she adopts a more powerful stance on this track; almost like she's daring the world to take her down more. The message is full of conviction, desire and has a heart beaming with light. Everything about this track is brighter, it's artwork, it's lyrics ("don't look back" certainly makes a fitting refrain) and most interestingly, the choice of soundtrack. The song acts as a modern feminist anthem with it's pulsing synths, pounding drums and unrelenting movement. Originally intended as a piano ballad, the "prettiness" has been taken out of what could have been a very traditional song that you might consider standard in her repertoire. Instead, it's been charged up, glossed and polished up into something truly magnificent. Van Etten truly has come out of the other side of her despair and this, ladies and gentlemen, is what power sounds like.

Words by James Kitchen