Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory - Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory

After six intensely personal solo albums, Sharon Van Etten has apparently had enough of herself. If you were to take the title of her last full-length literally, you’d have expected change this time around, and sure enough, she’s opened up her songwriting process to include two members of her live band from the ‘We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong’ tour, bassist Devra Hoff and drummer Jorge Balbi. TEEN singer Teeny Lieberson rounds out the line-up on multi-instrumental duties.

The result on this first album to be credited to The Attachment Theory is not a dramatic reinvention; in fact, those familiar with Sharon’s last two records will recognise the stormy, synth-driven backbone of this record, a direction she first headed in on 2019’s ‘Remind Me Tomorrow’ that has proved fruitful both in the studio and in terms of her ever-more imposing stage presence. The role of her new band is seemingly to steer her down one consistent creative avenue; whereas on her previous two records, the rockier songs would be broken up by slower, more reflective material, here she swings straight with the synth-rock bat.

They cut the record in London, and her British influences hang heavier than ever; Depeche Mode are never far from the surface, while the outstanding ‘Southern Life’ channels the earlier, more experimental output of Manchester bands like Happy Mondays and ‘A Storm in Heaven’-era Verve. Devra’s terrific work, in particular, imbues the record with urgent groove - ‘Trouble’ is a key case in point - and the songs are often anthemic in feel and universal in their lyricism. You wonder whether this might have been the record to elevate Sharon Van Etten to arena status in another era; it is that stylish, that confident.