Sharon Van Etten epic Ten 2LP (Blue & Orange Vinyl)

Sharon Van Etten's career since the release of her second album, 2010's epic, is well-known; critically lauded albums, films, and television shows have continually displayed her expanding artistry. Upon its release, epic laid a romantic melancholy over the gravel and dirt of heartbreak without one honest thought or feeling spared. Her songs covered betrayal, obsession, egotism, and all the other emotions disliked in others and recognize in oneself. Van Etten's grounded and clenched vocals conveyed a sense of hope-the notion that beauty can arise from the worst of circumstances.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary of this special album's release, and to acknowledge the convergence of Van Etten's present and past work, she asked fellow artists she admired to participate in an expanded reissue, where each artist would cover one different song from epic in their own style. Some are musicians Van Etten herself admired in her early days (Fiona Apple, Lucinda Williams, and Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon of Big Red Machine), some are peers (Courtney Barnett, IDLES), and others are part of a younger generation of innovators (Shamir, St. Panther). What they all share is embodied by epic - a musician frankly communicating the power of music. The resulting epic Ten is a double album featuring the original plus the new album of epic covers and reimagined artwork.

"epic represents a crossroads for me as an artist. Going from intern to artist at Ba Da Bing, from solo folk singer to playing with a band for the first time and beginning to play shows on tour where people showed up. I am in awe of the artists who wanted to participate in celebrating my anniversary and reissue, from young inspiring musicians, to artists who took me under their wing, who I met on tour, and to artists I've looked up to since I was a teenager. Each one of these artists continue to influence my writing and provide a sense of camaraderie during this new era of sharing music." - Sharon Van Etten

epic's seven songs of survival and becoming marked the firm arrival of then-29-year-old Sharon Van Etten from New Jersey to Brooklyn and the forefront of indie rock. With a lingering twang from five turbulent years in Tennessee, epic was her first time playing with a full band, and she sounded newly poised... When epic turned 10 last year, Van Etten decided to honor this pivotal moment by inviting even more people into it. She assembled a covers album featuring foundational artists of her life, like Fiona Apple and Lucinda Williams, as well as eventual peers like Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner, who helped amplify her profile in 2010 when they covered 'Love More' live (before the album was even out). It's a testament to Van Etten's craft that her songs bloom in so many contexts, from Vernon and Dessner's ripping rock take on 'A Crime' to St. Panther's sleek R&B remake of 'One Day.' There was already a disarming openness to epic, and the best covers find new horizons in these songs still. Courtney Barnett, accompanied by Vagabon, lays bare the shattering narrative of 'Don't Do It,' urging a friend to hang on. Shamir reimagines the impressionistic drone of 'DsharpG' as an incandescent ballad, layering glittering acoustic guitars over a low-end rumble, spinning out their virtuosic vocals, pitching the whole song skyward. Two towering epic Ten recordings play like tacit acknowledgments of influence. The original 'Save Yourself' is animated by Lucinda Williams-style no-bullshit resolve and her same defiant skepticism, which makes the experience of hearing Williams croon it herself doubly thrilling. It's hard to imagine a more apt meeting than Fiona Apple and 'Love More.' Apple has been galvanizing listeners to speak their truths with conviction since she was a teenager in the 1990s - when Van Etten was also a teenager, listening to Apple in her bedroom. 'Love More' is filled with a raw emotional strength and honesty that is practically synonymous with Apple, who channels it here with otherworldly bolt-cutting power. If Van Etten's 'Love More' evokes sun finally pouring through a window, then Apple's is the renewed clarity of stepping out into the light.