Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory played Roadrunner – 5/1
Singer/songwriter Sharon Van Etten brought her brand new band The Attachment Theory to Roadrunner last week in support of their new record, joined by opener Love Spells.
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“It’s a sonic trust-fall.”
Such was the way Sharon Van Etten framed her current project and tour – the L.A.-based musician’s first-ever full-fledged collaboration with a proper band.
From her folk-y origins to her more synth-forward recent output, Van Etten’s music has often been tastefully augmented by supporting players, but this year’s eponymous record with the three-piece Attachment Theory marks her first go at writing songs from the ground up with bandmates. The result is unmistakably SVE, but bolstered by that full-band feel as the songs explore propulsive post-punk and anthemic new wave palettes. It’s among the standout records of her two-decade career, and received a welcome showcase (9 of its 10 tracks made the setlist) during the group’s Boston stop at the top of the month.
I’ve seen Van Etten perform quite a bit over the years, and as her music has grown further from the guitar-and-voice troubadour model, she’s become an increasingly magnetic stage presence – never more so than leading The Attachment Theory at Roadrunner. Alternately a commanding performer and an unreserved conversationalist with the crowd, she made the room feel both huge and intimate at the right times, and the band (expanded to a quartet for the tour) suitably supported both ends of the spectrum
The new record’s rockers (“Idiot Box,” “I Can’t Imagine (Why You Feel This Way)”) rode killer grooves that demonstrated the ensemble’s inherent chemistry, while reworkings of favorites like “Every Time the Sun Comes Up” successfully melded new sounds with old and the set’s more subdued moments stunned even in restraint. A distinctly Twin Peaks Roadhouse take on “Tarifa,” which Van Etten had performed in one of The Return‘s musical interludes, and dedicated to late director David Lynch, was perhaps the highlight of the whole night. And to really bring things full circle, we got a glimpse of the Van Etten of yore at the top of the encore with a solo rendition of “I Wish I Knew” – the first track from her ’08 self-titled LP. (That one got a dedication too, to my former Boston Globe colleague and early Van Etten champion James Reed).
Support for the evening came courtesy of Houston’s Sir Taegen C’aion Harris, aka Love Spells, who unspooled ethereal songs in a dreamy falsetto that recalled a less sleazy twist on modern slowcore juggernauts Cigarettes After Sex.
See photos from the whole evening below.
