Tomorrow, Sharon Van Etten will release epic Ten via Ba Da Bing (physical copies will be available June 11th). Today, she reveals its last cover, “Love More” (By Fiona Apple). epic Ten is a double LP of the original epic album from 2010 and a new album of epic covers by Fiona Apple, Lucinda Williams, Courtney Barnett ft. Vagabon, Big Red Machine (Aaron Dessner & Justin Vernon), IDLES, Shamir and St. Panther. Each Thursday leading up to its release, Van Etten has been sharing the album’s consecutive cover songs, culminating into today’s cover — “Love More” (By Fiona Apple). Ahead of tomorrow’s epic Ten release, read Adrianne Lenker’s wonderful liner notes, included below.
epic Ten: the accompanying documentary and concert will stream starting tomorrow through April 17th (stream times are below). Van Etten and her band will perform epic in its entirety from Zebulon LA, the venue that played a crucial role in her early career, with profits benefiting Zebulon. A short documentary on the making of epic and the significance of Zebulon as a haven for Van Etten and many other musicians will be presented before the concert.
“It is rare to feel truly seen by a stranger. I met Sharon several years ago, before my band had any recognition, before my music was anything to anyone. I was twenty two and had recently moved to New York City. I reached out to Sharon, expecting nothing. We had never met and it was a cold email. I was —nervously and shyly —searching for any insight into the music industry’s mysterious maze— hoping to ask her how it had been releasing music with her previous record label.
She responded swiftly and warmly, unhesitatingly inviting me to have coffee with her. I arrived at her Brooklyn apartment, and she greeted me with a warm hug, a french press full of strong coffee, and a spread of delicious food. She spoke to me as a sister, and as a friend. She encouraged me to trust my own instincts and intuition, and opened her door to me as a place I could always turn to if needed. She asked for nothing in return. I remember leaving her apartment and making it half a block away before I spilled onto a stoop to catch my breath and cry.
The grace of Sharon Van Etten is helping to heal the earth, heart by heart. I’ve often thought of how, it is not what one does in the public eye that matters most, but how one treats others when no one is watching, when there is no tangible, seeable reward to be gained. When a person functions from the depths of their soul and gives from that place without condition. The music that arises from such a heart is treasure.
Just a few years before our meeting, I had been sitting in the bright orange kitchen of my old college house. I had been listening to epic, letting it spill into me, and through me, saturating the circumstances of my teenage heart. Sharon’s words, melodies and rawness, became my words, melodies and rawness, and permeated the sea of moments I was living in, making them more bearable. It altered my faculties for processing feeling. Her way of writing changed my way of thinking. But I had yet to discover the deeper gift, the gift of Sharon as being.
It would seem that when a song is set free into the world, it becomes everyone’s, and anyone’s. ‘Love More’ and ‘Peace Signs’ are anthems for anyone who needs. Like medicine in a cabinet for whenever experience may be enriched by them. But Sharon, as an autonomous creature and vessel and spirit changed my life by simply showing me kindness, and giving me time unquestioningly, without even knowing just how badly I needed it.
It is humans like this who breathe life into lifeless spaces, and help to make the world a better place. I am unendingly grateful for this human, and for the eternalized encapsulation of this body of music.”
— Adrianne Lenker
epic Ten Tracklist
1. “A Crime” – Big Red Machine
2. “Peace Signs” – IDLES
3. “Save Yourself” – Lucinda Williams
4. “DsharpG” – Shamir
5. “Don’t Do It” – Courtney Barnett (ft. Vagabon)
6. “One Day” – St. Panther
7. “Love More” – Fiona Apple
Pre-order epic Ten
Purchase Tickets for the epic Ten Concert Livestream
Airtime #1: Friday, April 16 – 6pm PT / 9pm ET
Airtime #2: Saturday, April 17 – 9pm AEST
Airtime #3: Saturday, April 17 – 9pm BST