Simplicity is beauty. It is a simple truth, but one that is often forgotten in contemporary music. Thankfully, Sharon Van Etten’s “Epic” is a perfect example of the maxim, and shines with a clear and unadorned light.
“Epic” starts off with “A Crime,” an immediate reminder that Sharon Van Etten is a gifted songwriter as well a great instrumentalist. The feel of the opening song is a lonely melancholy, more specifically the sadness over knowing she cannot truly express her feelings at a past love: “To say the words I want to say to you would be a crime.”
Over the course of the next six songs (the album is, unfortunately, fairly short at seven tracks running just over 30 minutes total), Van Etten paints an achingly beautiful picture using music that captures the sadness and emptiness of the end of a relationship while still somehow imbuing the listener with a sense of hope.
“DsharpG” is a meandering six-minute song which begins with an almost atonal organ-esque drone. But as the song progresses, this instrumental background fades gracefully into the background, becoming an addition to the overall effect of the song as opposed to a distraction. The song is epic in a very understated way and is perhaps the best song on “Epic.”
“Don’t Do It” amps things up a bit, bringing electric guitar into the mix. It’s a refreshing change of pace from the primarily acoustic tracks from the rest of the album, but its sound is still just as easy to become lost in.
The final song on “Epic” is “Love More,” another gorgeous track which ends the album on a note of hope for the future amidst still more beautiful instrumentals.
In “Epic,” Sharon Van Etten released an album which deserves a great deal of attention as a gem of 2010.