Sharon Van Etten has announced an anniversary edition of her 2012 album Tramp. It’s due out March 24 via Jagjaguwar. The updated version is set to include a previously unreleased song called “This Is Too Right,” and will be available on crimson vinyl.
With the announcement, Van Etten has shared a video for “Serpents” directed by Naomi Yang of Galaxie 500 and Damon & Naomi. Yang made the video in 2012, but Van Etten shelved it due to insecurities about her appearance. “At the time, I didn’t have much experience with music videos,” Van Etten said in a statement. “I was very insecure about being the focus of a video. Maybe I wasn’t ready to face my demons. I know it sounds funny. I could write and perform them, but facing them and baring my soul on camera felt like an entirely different thing, and when I looked at myself, I felt uncomfortable. I chose not to release the video.” Check out the video below.
Yang shared a statement describing her creative process with the video. “Upon hearing ‘Serpents,’ I was struck by the emotion in the song, the raw anger,” she said. “I imagined showing this fury escaping and overtaking the room—Sharon’s rage as expressed in the song manifesting itself in physical space. We made the video on a cold January day in 2012, in an East Village walk-up loft borrowed from friends. It was me, on camera, with Susanne Sasic running the projections she had designed, and Sharon performing. I am delighted to know that now, on the 11th anniversary of Tramp, the ‘Serpents’ video will be seen at last.”
Sharon Van Etten’s latest album, We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong, was released in May 2022. Read Pitchfork’s interview “Sharon Van Etten Is an Institution Now.”