Get your first listen of Van Etten’s new song ‘Staring at a Mountain.’
Sharon Van Etten doesn’t have many screen acting credits to her name.
But she feels proud of her latest, inNever Rarely Sometimes Always.
Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features; Inset: Joe Scarnici/Getty Images
It premiered touniversal acclaimat theSundance Film Festival, where it won a U.S.
But that’s not all.
Van Etten also provides the end-credits song for the film, “Staring at a Mountain.”
Courtesy of Mick Management
EW can exclusively debut the song, which you’re able to check out above.
Read on below.Never Rarely Sometimes Alwayshits select theaters Friday.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You’re juggling a few responsibilities on this film.
How did you get involved?
She’s also friends with Catherine Diekman; I wrote a score for her filmStrange Weathera few years back.
My name has come up in her circles for different things.
It’s a journey not too often told.
And for the film, it was integral it be more about Sidney than about anybody else.
Having subtlety around the surrounding actors is a big part of the story for her.
It gives you the space to let your mind wonder about their relationship.
I’m not a negative influence.
That emotional side of the story: her not being able to connect with her mother for some reason.
What was the mood like on set?
I wasn’t in every scene.
I was in the bubble of the family life, of what was portrayed in the film.
Ryan Eggold is an amazing actor.
I felt that raw honesty of Sidney not really having acted before.
That discomfort was actually a natural response to the scenes that Ryan was creating.
We had a fairly low budget.
Everyone making it happen.
Everyone was very driven.
Let’s get into the song.
How did it initially come to you?
Why did it feel like the right ending to the movie Eliza made?
I remember the first time I saw the film in its entirety.
Those credits started rolling.
With no music there, you’re like, is this expository?
Is her life going to change?
We don’t know.
I talked it through with Eliza.
She’s like, “You don’t want it to be too hopeful.”
[Laughs] It’s a mixed bag.
Letting them sit with that energy themselves and deciding how they feel.
I got off the phone with Eliza and was sitting at my piano.
I literally have a mountain in my backyard; we call it our bluff.
So I’ll just sit at the piano and stare, trying to feel feelings.
I wanted to give a little bit of light in the song, too.
Were you struggling to find that particular tone, as you say, as you worked through it?
All of a sudden, it’s very easy for a woman to put herself in her shoes.
It’s still emotional to watch it.
I cry every time.
But it’s not an easy song.
I also appreciate that.
It’s the real question that people have to ask themselves, even if they don’t necessarily agree.
Maybe it even helps kids talk to their parents.
I’m not sure.
