Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen have teamed up on the beautiful new stand-alone single, ‘Like I Used To’. The two artists have admired each other from a distance over the years and over the course of lockdown, Sharon had this song ready: ‘I always felt supported by Angel and considered her a peer in this weird world of touring. We highway high-fived many times along the way… I finally got the courage in June of 2020 to reach out to see if she would want to sing together. I got greedy and quickly sent her a track I had been working on’.
Produced by John Congleton, ‘Like I Used To’ opens with stadium-sized guitar work and Sharon taking the lead on the first verse as she sings – with a country twang in her voice – about stealing a dress and how she ‘Saw a life as override, one more session overdrive’. The pair sing the wisftul chorus (‘Sleepin’ in late like I used to. Crossing my fingers like I used to. Waiting inside like I used to. Avoiding big crowds like I used to’) in unison as the song veers into the kind of space that Grandaddy occupy so well – packed with driving hooks and scatterings of sparkling synth.
