Your last album, We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong, was recorded during the LA wildfire season. Of course, as we speak the city is experiencing its worst fire in history.
S: One of our friends Josh, who was one of the main people that helped get these songs started – he engineered our writing sessions – lost his and his family’s house. They lived in Altadena and his wife is pregnant with twins right now. And our friend Max who’s part of our team, he’s four blocks away and he’s watering his house and cutting down trees and cleaning debris. A lot of people aren’t really covering [what’s happening] in Altadena and the Eaton Fires, because this was a very diverse area, predominantly Black and creative community. It has the most people displaced outside of the Pacific Palisades – it’s horrible and I feel guilty that I’m not there now. It’s momentous.
D: It’s so devastating to see. We all have such close connections to the city, I’ve lived there in the past, a lot of the band have lived there at one time or another, and I know so many people in Altadena. There’s so many creative people in that neighbourhood, especially in the indie music world. The city is so wild, right? That’s what’s so beautiful about it, so it’s so sad to see the wildlife
S: But seeing all the community activism, and so many businesses and families doing pop-ups and donation centres and constantly resharing resources – it’s community, hope, giving and collectiveness that really help people get through times like these. When you see people come together, in a way, that gives you hope.
Sharon, being a mother has been a key theme of recent albums, can you talk about how your relationship between music and motherhood has evolved to the present record?
S: It’s constantly changing for sure – my overall perspective on how to be an artist, mother, a partner and person. Have you seen that movie Nightbitch with Amy Adams? It’s an interesting perspective of a woman who was an artist and became a mother, who has a lot of these inner monologues about how she’s changed since – you’re a completely different person and it’s totally fine for you to give this part of yourself up. I’m very grateful that I’m in a relationship with somebody who wasn’t expecting that of me, and from the very beginning encouraged us to figure out a way to do both. It’s still a struggle. I still feel a pull even when I’m in my creative space, the guilt of choosing to tour and make a record over being present for my child.
But I have open conversations with my child about what I do, and I couldn’t have asked for a cooler kid. He’s very much a fan of what I do and has encouraged me by saying: “You can’t stop singing, mum, what are you talking about?” And I say: “You know what happens when I make a record?” Then he’s like: “You go on tour, but I get to visit you right?” So, we have these conversations and the guilt is mostly my own, and I have to constantly retrain myself to think about the reasons why I’m doing it.
Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory is now via Jagjaguwar.
Consider donating to Musicares, Mutual Aid LA and Red Cross LA to support those affected by the LA wildfires.
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