Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory – Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory


Fifteen years after its 2010 release, Sharon Van Etten‘s landmark album epic stands as a significant turning for the New Jersey-born singer/songwriter with its richer, full-band arrangements and broadening of vision. With backing from members of The War on Drugs and She Keeps Bees, epic found Van Etten wrapping her stark, vulnerable melodies in the armor of a studio ensemble, providing a deeper and richer musical experience to match that of her vulnerable yet empowered vocal performances. Since then, she hasn’t released an album without an able team of studio counterparts to enhance and animate her songwriting, whether with members of The National on 2012’s Tramp or an entire who’s-who of indie ringers on 2014’s Are We There, and most recently assembling the makings of a more enduring group of collaborators on 2022’s We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong.
Van Etten is now at another turning point, offering a reintroduction of sorts not as a solo singer/songwriter but as the leader of a proper band. When getting ready to tour with her Going About This collaborators—Jorge Balbi on drums and Devra Hoff on bass, as well as multi-instrumentalist Teeny Lieberson (who also comprise her touring band)—Van Etten was struck with a revelation during rehearsals: Let’s jam. The hourlong, freeform session quickly congealed into two songs, among them “I Can’t Imagine (Why You Feel This Way)”, a playful, bass-heavy and eminently danceable slice of synth-pop that crucially sounds more like a fully collaborative band than a solitary backed by a top-notch supporting cast. There’s an undeniable chemistry and physical rawness to the song, in spite of its crisp production—a showcase for what happens when you let go of preconceptions and simply ride a groove.
The self-titled debut by Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory comprises 10 such songs, each of them among the most immediate and purely pleasurable in her already impressive body of work. The kinetic energy harnessed by Van Etten and company is dynamic and infectious, each of the four musicians locked in and operating as essential parts of a greater whole—and sounding as if they’re having a hell of a lot of fun doing it. But then again how couldn’t you when tearing through a high-energy post-punk ripper like “Indio,” with distorted guitars taking center stage and BPMs dialed up a few notches.
Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory’s sound is defined as much by an atmospheric gauziness as much as its palpable immediacy, many of their songs draped in sleek synth tones that edge Van Etten deeper toward darkwave. The billowing arpeggios of “Live Forever,” accented by Van Etten repeatedly asking “Who wants to live forever?” (a proposition she undercuts with the refrain, “It doesn’t matter“), hew closer to the ornate art-pop of Bat for Lashes. And likewise, the ethereal art-pop pulse of first single “Afterlife” maintains a balance of grounded dancefloor thump and transcendent weightlessness, given its heaviest dose of gravity when Van Etten declares, “Someone inside me saved me/Made me see the light.“
As tight and seamless as The Attachment Theory’s collective performances are, innumerable individual moments of breathtaking musicianship emerge throughout. The glimmering neon ballad “Trouble” is held together by Hoff’s sinewy bassline, a spinal musculature around which the rest of the song’s body takes shape. And Lieberson’s throbbing synths feel almost corporeal in their presence, a glowing fortress in which Van Etten chants in an exasperated, monotone about her maternal anxieties: “My hands are shaking as a mother/Trying to raise her son right.” Though they may not indulge in an extended psychedelic freakout or jazz odyssey, even when the sum is greater than that of its individual parts, The Attachment Theory still allow plenty of room for individual flourish.
It’s still Sharon Van Etten’s name in the front, however, even as part of a collective, and her commanding vocals are the focal point even on songs that go as hard as “Southern Life” or “I Can’t Imagine.” But there’s less of a central narrative here than an everything-at-once kind of anxious agitation, whether it takes the form of pondering immortality or the moving expressions of yearning and devotion in “I Want You Here.” This also isn’t a political album, per se, but a twinge of algorithmic panic sets in frequently, such as when she invites everyone to liberate themselves and touch grass on “Idiot Box.” She poses the question on “Somethin’ Ain’t Right,” “Do you believe in compassion for enemies?Who is to blame when it falls to decay?” And on “I Can’t Imagine,” she asks bluntly, “Will the people let us down?” For how much of a thrill these songs often are, Van Etten isn’t blind to the chaos outside, rapping on the windows and coming up through the floorboards. But much as she did 15 years ago, Van Etten gives voice to these frustrations and vulnerabilities in the company of friends, finding strength and inspiration through the bonds of community.
Label: Jagjaguwar
Year: 2025
Similar Albums:
Note: When you buy something through our affiliate links, Treble receives a commission. All albums we cover are chosen by our editors and contributors.

Jeff Terich is the founder and editor of Treble. He's been writing about music for 20 years and has been published at American Songwriter, Bandcamp Daily, Reverb, Spin, Stereogum, uDiscoverMusic, VinylMePlease and some others that he's forgetting right now. He's still not tired of it.