Courtney Barnett and Vagabon cover Sharon Van Etten’s ‘Don’t Do It’

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the release of ‘epic’, Sharon Van Etten has announced brand new double LP ‘epic Ten’, which features artists Sharon admires covering the songs!

Set for release digitally on 16th April and physically on 11th June via Ba Da Bing, Courtney Barnett and Vagabon are now sharing their cover of ‘Don’t Do It’.

“I was so honoured that Sharon invited me to be part of this project,” Courtney says. “She is one of my favourite songwriters and such an inspiring artist, performer & encouraging friend to me. This song ‘Don’t Do It’ is powerful and personal, I really didn’t know how to make it my own, infact I tried to pick a different song and convinced myself I wasn’t up to the task, but Sharon was quietly supportive the whole time. in the process of talking vulnerably about the lyrics with her, I had to delve deeper into what the song meant for me. It’s fascinating to hear an artist ruminate on a song that is ten years old and see how it/they have evolved. I think it’s a beautiful thing to celebrate the journey of a song.

“I went into the studio a few days after Melbourne lockdown lifted. Stella Mozgawa played drums and I played guitar and we built the song from there. A week later I was talking to my friend Laetitia (Vagabon) we were saying how we should collaborate more. I nervously asked if she’d be interested in singing with me on this song and I’m so glad she said yes, her voice sounds incredible and really made the song feel complete. After nearly a year of solitude, I was so grateful for this opportunity to create something different with people that I greatly admire. And it seemed perfectly strange that the last time I was on a stage pre-Covid was with these three people.”

“Courtney and I found that we have a beautiful collaborating chemistry when we made our cover of ‘Reason to Believe’, which came out earlier this year,” Vagabon adds. “So when CB asked me to join her in singing ‘Don’t Do It’ by the inimitable Sharon Van Etten, I was thrilled! ‘Don’t do it’ is one of my favorite tracks off ‘EPIC’ and it was such a pleasure to do a version of it with Courtney.”

Have a listen below.

‘epic Ten’ Tracklisting:
1. A Crime - Big Red Machine
2. Peace Signs - IDLES
3. Save Yourself - Lucinda Williams
4. DsharpG - Shamir
5. Don’t Do It - Courtney Barnett (ft. Vagabon)
6. One Day - St. Panther
7. Love More - Fiona Apple