“Serpents” is a complete departure from Sharon Van Etten‘s early work. Admittedly, I missed her sophomore release, Epic from 2010, but was fully entranced by her debut, 2009′s Because I Was In Love. Here, she shatters the quietude of the stripped-down acoustic guitar of that earliest album with a folk-rock piece that is utterly haunting. Musically, “Serpent” may fit the title of her sophomore release, but it’s off her new album, Tramp, which was released yesterday via Jagjaguwar.

After a week away, it was nice to be back in the studio. This week I played several folk-related tunes, a few garage-based ones, and a small handful of indie pop tracks. With the amount of indie-folk I’ve played of late, I’m thinking we’re in store for another dreamy mix and maybe even a garage rock mix in the near future.

The introduction to Sharon Van Etten came, quite surprisingly, through a recent comment on my track review of Julie Peel’s “Unfold”. Even more shocking was the discovery that I had prior communication with Van Etten on other affairs. So she was more than gracious to provide me material in which to pump out this review. Because I Was In Love has the lovely female-fronted folk often reserved for masters like Mirah, Laura Gibson, and Julie Doiron.