A second new tune by Sharon Van Etten in as many months suggests a new solo album must be on the horizon.

Sharon Van Etten has been my favourite singer ever since I heard her in 2009, singing an unutterably sad song called Cuddle Alone in collaboration with a kind of alternative boy-girl blues duo called She Keeps Bees.

That same year she released her first folk-flavoured album, Because I Was In Love, and no one paid much attention, including me, even when it was followed by a powerful break-up album called Epic.

It was when she released Tramp that I became fully engaged and went to see her at a memorable gig at Cargo in Shoreditch, supported by HTRK, whom I discovered that night, following Shazza through her transition via the RnB-tinged Are We There to the full-blown electro-pop of Remind Me Tomorrow.

Since then she’s made a lockdown anthem with Josh Homme – a cover of Nick Lowe’s (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love & Understanding – and released arguably her best song, the duet Like I Used To with Angel Olsen, and today comes the release of her latest tune, Used To It, following the recent Porta.

Used To It is a song she wrote for the score to last year’s HBO documentary Baby God, about the Nevada fertility specialist who impregnated numerous women with his own sperm, but has lyrical parallels to the times we have been living through during the pandemic.

“I found myself welcomely challenged to the idea of writing a song about the concept of family, connection through blood, nature vs. nurture, while attempting to incorporate ideas of love and the complexities of science and technology,” she says.

“I am grateful for this song to be able to have a new life, relating more to the times we have all been living through and redefining the meaning of this song by focusing on the positives of seeking connection and understanding what family means to the individual.”

The video was created by Van Etten’s musical director and bandmate Charley Damski, and features the dancer and choreographer Hayden J Frederick. “Together, they helped me convey the feelings of internal struggles, while also finding space for oneself and embracing that pain in order to move on,” she adds.