Madison Bloom at Pitchfork:
Van Etten often counters the sonic immensity of her new album, stacked with towering choruses, moody synths, and a lingering sense of despair, with lamplit views of the hearth. On the festival-ready “Anything,” she presents an image glowing with the warmth of an Edward Hopper painting, bellowing, “You love him by the stove light in your arms.” Talking about the song’s origin story, she remembers cooking dinner one night, and as the jazz pianist Bud Powell’s “Polka Dots and Moonbeams” filled the kitchen, Hutchins dipped in and led her in a dance. “It was supposed to be our wedding song,” Van Etten says. She and Hutchins were scheduled to get hitched in May of 2020, and they haven’t been able to set a new date since the world overturned. “Shit on shit,” she says, referring to the past few years. “I have my ups and downs in my real life, but my partner’s amazing. He knows when it’s hard, and he just embraces it, and we get through it.” She smiles at the revelation. “Even when I’m a mess.”
more here.