Fiona Apple has covered Sharon Van Etten and having those two titans together is almost too much to handle.
You all remember Fiona Apple: after eight years away, she casually returned last year and dropped an indisputable masterpiece, Fetch The Bolt Cutters. It was a record more alive with ideas and virtuosity than many musicians manage in a lifetime (none of this is hyperbolic).
Notoriously private, any hint of news from Apple is treated as forbidden fruit, so enticing and alluring. While it might not be original music, she has covered a Sharon Van Etten classic and that’s still alright with us.
As per Pitchfork, Apple has shared her version of ‘Love More’, a track from Van Etten’s 2010 album Epic. It’s with reason too: Van Etten is releasing epic Ten, an expanded version of that album as it belatedly marks its 10th anniversary.
Apple may be the cherry on top of the cake but Van Etten has also assembled a fascinating array of other artists to tackle her songs, including British post-punk foghorns IDLES, U.S. pop singer-songwriter Shamir, and Australia’s own Courtney Barnett (Apple covering a Barnett song also definitely should happen).
The cover of ‘Love More’ utilises some of the haunting percussive touches that so marked Fetch The Bolt Cutters, Apple imbuing it with a sense of rhythmic playfulness. Her voice is a marvel throughout, sometimes crying out notes with abandon, sometimes delivering them crisply, as if she’s smirking while singing.
Listen to Apple’s cover and Van Etten’s more solemnly contemplative original below. Which is your favourite version.
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epic Ten by Sharon Van Etten is out today, April 16th, and can be found here.
For more on this topic, head over to the Indie Observer.
Check out ‘Love More’ (cover) by Fiona Apple:
Check out ‘Love More’ (original) by Sharon Van Etten:
