10 Perfect Folk Rock Albums With No Bad Songs

Sharon Van Etten's fifth album saw her depart from her typical indie folk roots, drawing on the sounds of electronic drums and synthesisers. But rather than sounding like an artist cashing in on the current pop-savvy trend, her sound has only been enriched.

This is far from your traditional folk rock album. In the same way Bon Iver has utilised electronic manipulation to transcend folk and rock so has Ettan. The folktronica elements, enhance her poetically tender vocals exquisitely.

There's a cinematic quality that hasn't been present on he previous works. We get pulsating synth melodies setting the tone on tacks like Jupiter 4, conjuring images of dystopian cityscapes. Comeback Kid also benefits from such sounds. It's a song delivered with the boldness of youth, as Etten recounts her time as a teenager. It's something of a contrast to the album's other teenage nostalgia trip, Seventeen. The song takes you on a ride through the brash self-assuredness of adolescence, with lyrics that yearn to change the mistakes of ones past.

This is a difficult album to pin down. You have the poetic reflections, more typical of Etten's folk days, but there's a driving '80s undercurrent with hints of post-punk and new wave.