Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen’s “Like I Used To”

Have you heard this song? Seriously, this song has burned a hole in my brain since I first heard it back at the end of May. I’m a fan of both of these amazing songwriters, but together these two are like that duet with Chrissie Hynde and Stevie Nicks we never got in the early 80s. Had we got that duet who knows where the world would be now. Total world peace? Nuclear arms race shelved for good? Reality TV never happens and we are all the better for it?

It’s hard to say what Chrissie and Stevie’s collaboration could have done for the world at large, but now we have Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen giving us this grand pop masterpiece in the jangly tradition of the best of American singer/songwriters. Both of these songwriters dig deep and heavy in their solo endeavors. They lay it out, heart splayed for all to see and emotional heft for days.

With “Like I Used To” Sharon and Angel harken back to the neon decade and give us a weighty pop nugget that I feel I could’ve heard playing right along with Petty, Springsteen, Nicks, Hynde, and even Tina Turner in the early-to-mid 80s. This is top 40 radio you’d happily crank the radio for as you drove along in your 1984 Honda Accord heading to the video store to rent some Betamax tapes for the weekend.

I’ve got nothing today, except that if you haven’t heard this amazing song yet your homework is to dive into it. Savor it, live in it, and then repeat. Is there a full-length release coming from these two together? Well is there? I’m asking. You don’t know? Okay, guess I’ll google it.

I’m not sure we deserve this amazing song, but it’s here for the taking so listen. Listen until the universe decides we’re ingrates and takes it back into its loving, eternal arms.

Listen to “Like I Used To” below, and have a good day.