“Sitting at the bar, I told you everything,” croons Sharon Van Etten over sparse piano keys and buzzing drone on the opener to her new album, Remind Me Tomorrow. Setting out her confessional stall from the off, the US star unveils the record’s heart-on-your-sleeve universe.

The source of love from which Van Etten draws her inspiration has shifted from the decaying romance of 2014’s critically-acclaimed Are We There. Van Etten is now a mother (as well as an actor who has also gone back to academia) and this record deals in an exciting new kind of love, albeit one that inhabits dark and stormy landscapes.

Working with producer John Congleton, she swaps with organic folk guitar for synths, and Remind Me Tomorrow proves the anthemic potential of the keyboard and drum machine, where life-affirming pop is powered by the alternative energy of a Roland TR-808. The shiny new sound comes into focus in various different ways throughout the album. No One’s Easy to Love sounds like it’s about to crack open the breakbeats. Memorial Day swoons with cavernous echo, while synth-pop squiggles light up first single Comeback Kid.

Returning to her songcraft after marking off epochal moments in her personal life, Remind Me Tomorrow pops with vibrancy on a record that makes Van Etten’s voice feel more alive and present than ever.

April Clare Welsh