Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory : Self-Titled

I think Sharon Van Etten has always had a Goth queen inside of her just waiting to come out. Even from the very beginning her albums ached with the kind of doomed romanticism that Siouxsie Sioux, Kate Bush, and Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser trademarked back in the heyday of early 80s alternative. Van Etten leaned more into singer/songwriter territory, making her name in beautiful, life-heavy ballads landing somewhere between The Pretenders and The Boss. But on her last two albums, Remind Me Tomorrow and 2022s We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong, Sharon Van Etten leaned into a more alternative rock sound, giving into a rougher edge. More 120 Minutes and less adult alternative.

We now have Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory. The first for Van Etten’s collaborative band The Attachment Theory, which includes Jorge Balbi (drums, machines), Devra Hoff (bass, vocals), and Teeny Lieberson (synth, piano, guitar). This feels like a “band” album, as opposed to Van Etten going into the studio with a producer and writing a record for studio musicians to create for her. It’s a buzzing, dark, engaging rock record that would have fit on some college rock radio from the 80s being played between Joy Division and The Cure.

Van Etten has always had a dramatic thru line in her music. Even her haunted indie folk felt bigger than the chords played throughout the songs. There was always the intention of “go big or go home” in her sweeping songs. With 2019s Remind Me Tommorow and the addition of synths in her compositions the drama and urgency grew. Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment Theory has committed to a post-punk/alt rock mood; from the battered guitars to the reverb-swathed production, and yes moody synths. They commit to it and it works.

We open on the synth pulse of “Live Forever”, a cross between Kate Bush and the NIN-side project How To Destroy Angels. There’s also hints of Phantogram. It’s the kind of opener that sweeps you up into the record’s atmospheric world right away. Sharon Van Etten sounds right at home here. “Afterlife” swoops in sounding like Depeche Mode with a touch of Wye Oak for good measure. It’s a stunning bit of work, being both tragic and triumphant at the same time.

From the smartphone-dragging “Idiot Box” to the Blondie disco-punk of “I Can’t Imagine(Why You Feel This Way)” to the alluring, paranoid drive of “Somethin’ Ain’t Right”, Van Etten and her Attachment Theory sounds locked in and right at home in their candle-lit post-punk world. Maybe the most striking track is the Siouxsie Sioux meets Till Tuesday “Southern Life(What It Must Be Like)”, a hazy, dream-like early 80s banger with Van Etten leaning into some serious Janes Addiction, Aimee Mann love.

If you were on the fence with Sharon Van Etten before, Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory will firmly put your feet on the Van Etten side. This is a big, bold, and all-encompassing rock record. It feels like a new beginning for an artist that has already proven themselves.