Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory: Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory

Sharon Van Etten has been a marquee name singer-songwriter for nearly 15 years, baring her soul with billowing, stormy rock and-roll dirges and punch-in-the gut ballads. For her new album, she asked her longtime band to no longer back up her songs—but rather to co-create something brand new. And the resulting, fully collaborative Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory is a wild redirection, easily one of the most captivating collections in her already breathtaking catalog. Whereas previous Van Etten records have ranged between acoustic folk and ragged rock, these 10 tracks draw from a different musical universe—pitch-black gothic rock and no-wave, dark ‘80s synth pop, almost as if The Attachment Theory fed her a steady diet of The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees. Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory sets itself apart immediately. Opener “Live Forever” begins with piercing minimalism—a pulsating bassline flanked by echoing synth notes, and Van Etten asking, “Who wants to live forever?” as if she’s handing out a witch’s brew for immortality. By the song’s end, it’s become gale-force, Van Etten howling, “What keeps you up nights? What don’t you understand?” The oddball bass-heavy bounce of “I Can’t Imagine (Why You Feel This Way)” is pure Iggy Pop circa The Idiot—unhinged, dark, utterly raw and twisted. “Somethin’ Ain’t Right” is a hypnotic march built on looping synthesizers and an elastic, post-punk bassline. When Van Etten begins chanting, “It’s the same as it ever was,” it’s hard not to hear it as a wink to the track’s sonic forebearers, Talking Heads, and “Indio” is a full on classic-punk attack—furious and flying. Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory isn’t a reinvention—it’s an expert case of an artist evolving in ways no one could’ve expected.