LISTEN: Sharon Van Etten Releases New Song “Just Like Blood”

Sharon Van Etten has released a new song, “Just Like Blood,” which will be on her upcoming album, I Don’t Want to Let You Down.

“Just Like Blood” premiered on NPR, according to Brooklyn Vegan.

This new song opens with a moody piano introduction, before bass, guitar, and drums come in to complete the instrumentation. As with previous tracks from Van Etten, her voice is the focal point in the song. “Just Like Blood” finds her telling the story of the remnents of a torrid love affair, and in the lyrics she recalls how that relationship triggered her darkest impulses. Using violence to describe power structures in a relationship is also something that is common in Van Etten’s material, according to Flavorwire.

“You set me off just like a gun / Then you run just like blood,” she sings. One possible interpretation of these lyrics could be that it’s the moment at the end of a relationship when you realize that the other person only brought out your worst self.

Check it out:

So, what else has Van Etten been working on this year?

To date, she has performed “I Don’t Want to Let You Down” (the title track for her upcoming album) on Ellen, and she’s taken part in the supergroup Sounds of the South, which released a new song, “Trials, Troubles, Tribulations.” Additionally, she sang on “Sunshine On My Back,” which is a recently unearthed track from The National’s 2012 recording sessions for their sixth album, Trouble Will Find Me, which received a Grammy nomination.

Van Etten’s album, I Don’t Want To Let You Down, will be released on June 9th, 2015. It is currently available for pre-order on Amazon and iTunes, as well as other independent stores, along with her label Jagjaguwar.

Lastly, Van Etten is on tour this spring in Europe, South America, and the United States. The tour began on April 16th in Belgium, and will wrap up on June 26th. Her American leg of the tour will be making stops at the Boston Calling Music Festival on May 22, Sasquatch! Music Festival in Washington on May 25 and Governors Ball Music Festival in New York City on June 6.