Out Now: Sharon Van Etten Releases ‘We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong’ LP; Hosting YouTube Live Stream

Acclaimed indie singer/songwriter Sharon Van Etten returned today, May 6, with We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong, her sixth full-length album and the first since 2019’s Remind Me Tomorrow.

Van Etten announced the new record in early April, with a unique caveat: there would be no pre-release tracks shared as singles. Instead, she intended the album’s 10 songs to be experienced as a cohesive artistic statement, rather than a sequence of singles chopped up for the digital age.

A refreshingly old-school approach, it was matched by the album’s thematic weight, which a news release summed up in no uncertain terms:

Sharon Van Etten has always been the kind of artist who helps people make sense of the world around them, and We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong concerns itself with the questions we ask ourselves when we think the world – or at least, our world – might be ending. Have we loved as well as we could? Did we try hard enough? How do we protect the things most precious to us from destructive forces beyond our control? And how do we salvage something worthwhile when it seems all is lost? In considering these questions and her own vulnerability in the face of them, Van Etten has created a stunning meditation on how life’s changes can be both terrifying and transformative. We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong articulates the beauty and power that can be rescued from our wreckages.

Click here to pick up We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong on CD from our Rock Cellar Store
Click here to pick up We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong on LP from our Rock Cellar Store

Said Van Etten of the deliberate approach of releasing it as a completed project:

“I wanted to approach this release differently, to engage my fans in an intentional way, in an effort to present the album as a whole body of work. These ten songs are designed to be listened to in order, at once, so that a much larger story of hope, loss, longing and resilience can be told.” This is, in itself, a subtle act of control, but in sharing these songs it remains an optimistic and generous one. The album’s cover art reflects that too, inspired as much by Van Etten’s old life as her new one. “I wanted to convey that in an image with me walking away from it all” says Van Etten, “not necessarily brave, not necessarily sad, not necessarily happy.”

The result is a powerful artistic statement, one that adds to Sharon Van Etten’s catalog of emotive, expressive and wholly original material.

Van Etten will host a special live stream album release show on YouTube tonight at 8 p.m. ET, where she will begin with a music video premiere for “Mistakes,” one of the record’s standouts.

Tune in below:

We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong will arrive ahead of this summer’s Wild Hearts tour, a co-headlining affair featuring Van Etten, Angel Olsen and Julien Baker.

Here’s Van Etten’s full tour schedule:

Thu. Apr. 21 – Charlottesville, VA @ The Jefferson Theatre ~
Fri. Apr. 22 – Saxapahaw, NC @ Haw River Ballroom ~
Sat. Apr. 23 – Atlanta, GA @ Variety Playhouse ~
Sun. Apr. 24 – Charleston, SC @ High Water Music Festival
Tue. May 31 – Lisbon, PT @ Aula Magna ^#
Thu. Jun. 2 – Barcelona, ES @ Primavera Sound
Sun. Jun. 5 – München, DE @ Muffathalle ^%
Mon. Jun. 6 – Antwerp, BE @ Openluchttheater Rivierenhof ^%
Tue. Jun. 7 – Hamburg, DE @ Markthalle ^%
Thu. Jun. 9 – Oslo, NE @ Loaded &
Fri. Jun. 10 – Stockholm, SE @ Rosendal, Djurgarden &
Sat. Jun. 11 – Copenhagen, DK @ Syd For Solen &
Mon. Jun. 13 – Berlin, DE @ Metropol ^%
Tue. Jun. 14 – Utrecht, NE @ TivoliVredenberg Grote Zaal ^%
Wed. Jun. 15 – Paris, FR @ La Cigale ^%
Fri. Jun. 17 – London, UK @ O2 Brixton Academy ^%
Sat. Jun. 18 – Birmingham, UK @ O2 Institute ^%
Sun. Jun. 19 – Leeds, UK @ 02 Academy Leeds ^%
Tue. Jun. 21 – Glasgow, UK @ Barrowland ^%
Wed. Jun. 22 – Dublin, IE @ Vicar Street ^%
Thu. Jul. 21 – Vienna, VA @ Wolf Trap Center For the Performing Arts *
Fri. Jul. 22 – Asheville, NC @ Rabbit Rabbit *
Sat. Jul. 23 – Nashville, TN @ Ryman Auditorium * √
Mon. Jul. 25 – Austin, TX @ Moody Amphitheater *
Thu. Jul. 28 – Los Angeles, CA @ Greek Theatre *
Fri. Jul. 29 – Los Angeles, CA @ Greek Theatre *
Sat. Jul 30 – Berkeley, CA @ Greek Theatre *
Tu. Aug. 2 – Troutdale, OR @ McMenamins Edgefield Amphitheater *
Wed. Aug. 3 – Redmond, WA @ Marymoor Amphitheater *
Fri. Aug. 5 – Boise, ID @ Idaho Botanical Garden *
Sat. Aug. 6 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Twilight Concert Series *
Sun. Aug. 7 – Denver, CO @ Sculpture Park *
Tue. Aug. 9 – Minneapolis, MN @ Surly Brewing Festival Field *
Wed. Aug 10 – Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed *
Thu. Aug. 11 – Kalamazoo, MI @ Bell’s Eccentric Cafe *
Fri. Aug. 12 – Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall * √
Sat. Aug. 13 – Toronto, ON @ Massey Hall * √
Mon. Aug. 15 – Shelburne, VT @ The Green at Shelburne Museum *
Tue. Aug. 16 – LaFayette, NY @ Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards *
Thu. Aug. 18 – Boston, MA @ Leader Bank Pavilion *
Fri. Aug. 19 – Philadelphia, PA @ Skyline Stage at The Mann *
Sat. Aug. 20 – New York, NY @ Central Park Summerstage *
Sun. Aug. 21 – New York, NY @ Central Park Summerstage *

~ = with Mia Joy
& = with The National
^ = Darkness Fades Tour
# = with The Weather Station
% = with L’Rain
* = The Wild Hearts Tour with Angel Olsen, Julien Baker, & Spencer.
√ = no Spencer.