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Hamilton Spectator
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Hamilton Spectator
For Sharon Van Etten, making her latest album was both spiritual and psychological
LOS ANGELES (AP) — As she was putting together her seventh and most recent record, Sharon Van Etten came up with a tongue-in-cheek idea for its title. 'Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory,' she wanted to call it — a reference to both her interest in psychology and a play on the familial dynamics that often exist within a band. Although most of Van Etten's bandmates have been with her for several years, this was her first time writing songs with them, so playing with that relationship felt apt. But when the indie musician approached her collaborators with the idea for the title and band name, there was one stipulation: 'They said, 'I don't mind you calling it 'The Attachment Theory,' as long as we don't have to talk about our attachment styles,'' Van Etten laughed. As they gear up for a fall tour, announced Monday, Van Etten spoke with The Associated Press about her stream-of-consciousness style of writing and how being a mom has made her more cognizant of how much time she spends on her phone. The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. AP: What prompted the change in how this record was made? VAN ETTEN: Writing as a band was a complete accident. We were rehearsing in 2022 for the 'We've Been Going About This All Wrong' tour and figuring out how to take this album, which we recorded piecemeal during the pandemic because we couldn't all be in the same room together. I thought the best way to reconnect after recording the album from afar was to rent a house and a studio in the desert and have it be more like a literal band camp, instead of doing one of those sterile rehearsal environments, just to have a way for us to reconnect as people as well as musicians. As we got to the end of the week, we realized we had gone through the whole set that we were planning for that tour, and I asked the band if they would want to jam. I was so tired of hearing myself. I was very inspired by the sonic palette that we had created together, and I wanted to see what would happen. And in an hour or two, we wrote two songs without really trying. And we laughed it off, we packed our bags and we left the next day. But my engineer recorded those jam sessions, and I remember playing them for my partner at home, saying, 'I think creatively this is the next thing I want to do.' And so, after we did that first tour for the previous record, I booked a writing session right away and we returned to that same studio and worked for a week with the intention of writing. And it was a very prolific week. AP: Did you have the lyrics written beforehand? VAN ETTEN: All of the writing in the desert was from the ground up. I didn't have anything going into it, which I've never done before either. My process from being solo is something that I brought into the session with the band, where I find the melodies first and I sing stream of consciousness. AP: Singing stream of consciousness sounds very spiritual, almost like speaking in tongues. VAN ETTEN: It very much is. There's something about it that, if I'm going through something emotionally that I don't have the words to express yet and I can sit at an instrument and just sing, I get something out of me and release something in a way that I still don't really know how to describe to people. Even if it's something I end up writing about later, it's more of like, I get the emotion out, but then I turn the song into something else that hopefully is more healing than the moment that I'm trying to get over. AP: How did you come up with the album name? VAN ETTEN: The name The Attachment Theory at first was a bit tongue-in-cheek because I am interested in psychology and I am from a big family. I think being in a family and being in a band are very similar because you become a family, you become each other's chosen family, and you go through a lot together. So from rehearsing to touring to making a record together, you create these dynamics with each other, and you also become each other's support systems. And I know attachment theory is mostly about your connection with your parents but it's also a little bit about how you connect as a unit. AP: I'm sure your attachment styles came up in the desert. VAN ETTEN: Yes, and they will remain unnamed. AP: I love your song, 'Idiot Box.' I wondered, as an artist, how you think about our addiction to entertainment. VAN ETTEN: Oh my gosh, well that's a can of worms right there. I mean, we're all addicted to our phones. We all have screens. I'm also a mom, and I tell my kid not to do the things that I do. And I think now more than ever, I have to be way more mindful about when I choose to interact. But I don't really have an answer. It's more of an acknowledgment that we need to check in with each other when we feel like we're getting lost in that scrolling zone and I just feel like it's a constant battle.
San Francisco Chronicle
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
For Sharon Van Etten, making her latest album was both spiritual and psychological
LOS ANGELES (AP) — As she was putting together her seventh and most recent record, Sharon Van Etten came up with a tongue-in-cheek idea for its title. 'Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory,' she wanted to call it — a reference to both her interest in psychology and a play on the familial dynamics that often exist within a band. Although most of Van Etten's bandmates have been with her for several years, this was her first time writing songs with them, so playing with that relationship felt apt. But when the indie musician approached her collaborators with the idea for the title and band name, there was one stipulation: 'They said, 'I don't mind you calling it 'The Attachment Theory,' as long as we don't have to talk about our attachment styles,'' Van Etten laughed. As they gear up for a fall tour, announced Monday, Van Etten spoke with The Associated Press about her stream-of-consciousness style of writing and how being a mom has made her more cognizant of how much time she spends on her phone. The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. AP: What prompted the change in how this record was made? VAN ETTEN: Writing as a band was a complete accident. We were rehearsing in 2022 for the 'We've Been Going About This All Wrong' tour and figuring out how to take this album, which we recorded piecemeal during the pandemic because we couldn't all be in the same room together. I thought the best way to reconnect after recording the album from afar was to rent a house and a studio in the desert and have it be more like a literal band camp, instead of doing one of those sterile rehearsal environments, just to have a way for us to reconnect as people as well as musicians. As we got to the end of the week, we realized we had gone through the whole set that we were planning for that tour, and I asked the band if they would want to jam. I was so tired of hearing myself. I was very inspired by the sonic palette that we had created together, and I wanted to see what would happen. And in an hour or two, we wrote two songs without really trying. And we laughed it off, we packed our bags and we left the next day. But my engineer recorded those jam sessions, and I remember playing them for my partner at home, saying, 'I think creatively this is the next thing I want to do.' And so, after we did that first tour for the previous record, I booked a writing session right away and we returned to that same studio and worked for a week with the intention of writing. And it was a very prolific week. VAN ETTEN: All of the writing in the desert was from the ground up. I didn't have anything going into it, which I've never done before either. My process from being solo is something that I brought into the session with the band, where I find the melodies first and I sing stream of consciousness. AP: Singing stream of consciousness sounds very spiritual, almost like speaking in tongues. VAN ETTEN: It very much is. There's something about it that, if I'm going through something emotionally that I don't have the words to express yet and I can sit at an instrument and just sing, I get something out of me and release something in a way that I still don't really know how to describe to people. Even if it's something I end up writing about later, it's more of like, I get the emotion out, but then I turn the song into something else that hopefully is more healing than the moment that I'm trying to get over. AP: How did you come up with the album name? VAN ETTEN: The name The Attachment Theory at first was a bit tongue-in-cheek because I am interested in psychology and I am from a big family. I think being in a family and being in a band are very similar because you become a family, you become each other's chosen family, and you go through a lot together. So from rehearsing to touring to making a record together, you create these dynamics with each other, and you also become each other's support systems. And I know attachment theory is mostly about your connection with your parents but it's also a little bit about how you connect as a unit. AP: I'm sure your attachment styles came up in the desert. VAN ETTEN: Yes, and they will remain unnamed. AP: I love your song, 'Idiot Box.' I wondered, as an artist, how you think about our addiction to entertainment. VAN ETTEN: Oh my gosh, well that's a can of worms right there. I mean, we're all addicted to our phones. We all have screens. I'm also a mom, and I tell my kid not to do the things that I do. And I think now more than ever, I have to be way more mindful about when I choose to interact. But I don't really have an answer. It's more of an acknowledgment that we need to check in with each other when we feel like we're getting lost in that scrolling zone and I just feel like it's a constant battle.
Winnipeg Free Press
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
For Sharon Van Etten, making her latest album was both spiritual and psychological
LOS ANGELES (AP) — As she was putting together her seventh and most recent record, Sharon Van Etten came up with a tongue-in-cheek idea for its title. 'Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory,' she wanted to call it — a reference to both her interest in psychology and a play on the familial dynamics that often exist within a band. Although most of Van Etten's bandmates have been with her for several years, this was her first time writing songs with them, so playing with that relationship felt apt. But when the indie musician approached her collaborators with the idea for the title and band name, there was one stipulation: 'They said, 'I don't mind you calling it 'The Attachment Theory,' as long as we don't have to talk about our attachment styles,'' Van Etten laughed. As they gear up for a fall tour, announced Monday, Van Etten spoke with The Associated Press about her stream-of-consciousness style of writing and how being a mom has made her more cognizant of how much time she spends on her phone. The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. AP: What prompted the change in how this record was made? VAN ETTEN: Writing as a band was a complete accident. We were rehearsing in 2022 for the 'We've Been Going About This All Wrong' tour and figuring out how to take this album, which we recorded piecemeal during the pandemic because we couldn't all be in the same room together. I thought the best way to reconnect after recording the album from afar was to rent a house and a studio in the desert and have it be more like a literal band camp, instead of doing one of those sterile rehearsal environments, just to have a way for us to reconnect as people as well as musicians. As we got to the end of the week, we realized we had gone through the whole set that we were planning for that tour, and I asked the band if they would want to jam. I was so tired of hearing myself. I was very inspired by the sonic palette that we had created together, and I wanted to see what would happen. And in an hour or two, we wrote two songs without really trying. And we laughed it off, we packed our bags and we left the next day. But my engineer recorded those jam sessions, and I remember playing them for my partner at home, saying, 'I think creatively this is the next thing I want to do.' And so, after we did that first tour for the previous record, I booked a writing session right away and we returned to that same studio and worked for a week with the intention of writing. And it was a very prolific week. AP: Did you have the lyrics written beforehand? VAN ETTEN: All of the writing in the desert was from the ground up. I didn't have anything going into it, which I've never done before either. My process from being solo is something that I brought into the session with the band, where I find the melodies first and I sing stream of consciousness. AP: Singing stream of consciousness sounds very spiritual, almost like speaking in tongues. VAN ETTEN: It very much is. There's something about it that, if I'm going through something emotionally that I don't have the words to express yet and I can sit at an instrument and just sing, I get something out of me and release something in a way that I still don't really know how to describe to people. Even if it's something I end up writing about later, it's more of like, I get the emotion out, but then I turn the song into something else that hopefully is more healing than the moment that I'm trying to get over. AP: How did you come up with the album name? VAN ETTEN: The name The Attachment Theory at first was a bit tongue-in-cheek because I am interested in psychology and I am from a big family. I think being in a family and being in a band are very similar because you become a family, you become each other's chosen family, and you go through a lot together. So from rehearsing to touring to making a record together, you create these dynamics with each other, and you also become each other's support systems. And I know attachment theory is mostly about your connection with your parents but it's also a little bit about how you connect as a unit. AP: I'm sure your attachment styles came up in the desert. VAN ETTEN: Yes, and they will remain unnamed. AP: I love your song, 'Idiot Box.' I wondered, as an artist, how you think about our addiction to entertainment. VAN ETTEN: Oh my gosh, well that's a can of worms right there. I mean, we're all addicted to our phones. We all have screens. I'm also a mom, and I tell my kid not to do the things that I do. And I think now more than ever, I have to be way more mindful about when I choose to interact. But I don't really have an answer. It's more of an acknowledgment that we need to check in with each other when we feel like we're getting lost in that scrolling zone and I just feel like it's a constant battle.
Hindustan Times
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
For Sharon Van Etten, making her latest album was both spiritual and psychological
LOS ANGELES — As she was putting together her seventh and most recent record, Sharon Van Etten came up with a tongue-in-cheek idea for its title. 'Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory,' she wanted to call it — a reference to both her interest in psychology and a play on the familial dynamics that often exist within a band. Although most of Van Etten's bandmates have been with her for several years, this was her first time writing songs with them, so playing with that relationship felt apt. But when the indie musician approached her collaborators with the idea for the title and band name, there was one stipulation: 'They said, 'I don't mind you calling it 'The Attachment Theory,' as long as we don't have to talk about our attachment styles,'' Van Etten laughed. As they gear up for a fall tour, announced Monday, Van Etten spoke with The Associated Press about her stream-of-consciousness style of writing and how being a mom has made her more cognizant of how much time she spends on her phone. The interview has been edited for clarity and brevity. VAN ETTEN: Writing as a band was a complete accident. We were rehearsing in 2022 for the 'We've Been Going About This All Wrong' tour and figuring out how to take this album, which we recorded piecemeal during the pandemic because we couldn't all be in the same room together. I thought the best way to reconnect after recording the album from afar was to rent a house and a studio in the desert and have it be more like a literal band camp, instead of doing one of those sterile rehearsal environments, just to have a way for us to reconnect as people as well as musicians. As we got to the end of the week, we realized we had gone through the whole set that we were planning for that tour, and I asked the band if they would want to jam. I was so tired of hearing myself. I was very inspired by the sonic palette that we had created together, and I wanted to see what would happen. And in an hour or two, we wrote two songs without really trying. And we laughed it off, we packed our bags and we left the next day. But my engineer recorded those jam sessions, and I remember playing them for my partner at home, saying, 'I think creatively this is the next thing I want to do.' And so, after we did that first tour for the previous record, I booked a writing session right away and we returned to that same studio and worked for a week with the intention of writing. And it was a very prolific week. VAN ETTEN: All of the writing in the desert was from the ground up. I didn't have anything going into it, which I've never done before either. My process from being solo is something that I brought into the session with the band, where I find the melodies first and I sing stream of consciousness. VAN ETTEN: It very much is. There's something about it that, if I'm going through something emotionally that I don't have the words to express yet and I can sit at an instrument and just sing, I get something out of me and release something in a way that I still don't really know how to describe to people. Even if it's something I end up writing about later, it's more of like, I get the emotion out, but then I turn the song into something else that hopefully is more healing than the moment that I'm trying to get over. VAN ETTEN: The name The Attachment Theory at first was a bit tongue-in-cheek because I am interested in psychology and I am from a big family. I think being in a family and being in a band are very similar because you become a family, you become each other's chosen family, and you go through a lot together. So from rehearsing to touring to making a record together, you create these dynamics with each other, and you also become each other's support systems. And I know attachment theory is mostly about your connection with your parents but it's also a little bit about how you connect as a unit. VAN ETTEN: Yes, and they will remain unnamed. VAN ETTEN: Oh my gosh, well that's a can of worms right there. I mean, we're all addicted to our phones. We all have screens. I'm also a mom, and I tell my kid not to do the things that I do. And I think now more than ever, I have to be way more mindful about when I choose to interact. But I don't really have an answer. It's more of an acknowledgment that we need to check in with each other when we feel like we're getting lost in that scrolling zone and I just feel like it's a constant battle.
Boston Globe
25-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Sharon Van Etten on adding the band name to the marquee
It wasn't just about reconnection after an extended period of uncertain isolation, either. The singer viewed that degree of closeness and engagement with the process as a way of offering her musicians ownership over the material: 'As a band, they give up so much to leave their friends and family behind to support your ideas. This is another extension of me wanting to write songs from the ground up and share in that creative process and show the love and hopefully help everybody feel that much more invested and cared for and looked after.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up That sense of communal togetherness was key to 'Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory,' a seventh album and a debut all at the same time. The band (which plays Advertisement 'I think the most surprising thing to me was that it was really natural,' Van Etten says. 'On my previous records, I've written by myself. I've built it up by myself. There was nobody telling me when I had to finish writing songs, because I would have a collection of songs. At band camp, however, Van Etten was less precious about having to know what she wanted before the band entered the equation. With the musicians using their chosen instruments to explore rather than fill in an existing framework, they came up with chord progressions that the singer would find melodies for and develop. 'There were moments where I helped define what was happening next, but they were naturally playing things that I was very inspired by,' says Van Etten. 'It felt very intuitive.' Advertisement Intuitive though it may have been, the new songs mark a substantial break from Van Etten's previous work. If the sharp and propulsive 'Mistakes' felt like an oasis of danceability on the otherwise expansive and atmospheric 'We've Been Going About This All Wrong,' then 'Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory' is all oasis, sort of. Krautrock and post-punk influences abound, from Neu! and Can to the Cure and Joy Division, and Van Etten likens 'Live Forever' to Even nominally familiar ground comes with new elements. 'Fading Beauty' has some of the same slow momentum and spacious build as Van Etten's earlier work, but it's filled with textures that are new to her, and 'Southern Life (What It Must Be Like)' finds her using her voice in ways that she hasn't tried before. She credits the spontaneity of the band process for the latter. 'It was more rhythmic [ideas] that I was trying to mess around with, and they had this kind of proggy jam happening,' Van Etten says. 'I was just trying to play around with patterns and syncopations, and I felt like it was getting repetitive for me, melodically, so I was like, Where can I go from here, where it kind of sounds like a different instrument? And that's when I go high. And I think also I don't normally do a lot of talking-style singing, so I was just trying to experiment with that. Again, not knowing it was for anything. Advertisement 'When you have that freedom, or that sense [that] it's not being recorded for a record and no one has to hear this beyond this circle of trust here, I think you just throw as much paint as you can. I didn't know what would stick.' Perhaps it's that level of trust that leads Van Etten to refer to the Attachment Theory not just in terms of camp but in terms of family, referencing their 'sibling dynamics' and seeing each other as a traveling support system. But if that's not enough, there's plenty to be found on the road regardless. 'You'll probably see my sister at the [Roadrunner] show. If I'm [on the] East Coast, some Van Etten will be there. I think my dad's bringing, like, ten people to Philly,' says the New Jersey native with a chuckle. 'So I'm always prepared to have a relative at a show. And I feel so fortunate to have such a supportive family, even when it gets hard to see them all. 'I did have a cousin at a Bowery Ballroom show [in New York] get a little drunk and yell 'You [expletive] slut!' at the front row, and I had to explain to everyone around her that it was my cousin just messing with me. But it was very funny, and she hasn't lived that down yet, my cousin Jackie.' SHARON VAN ETTEN & THE ATTACHMENT THEORY At Roadrunner on Thursday, May 1. 8 p.m. Marc Hirsh can be reached at officialmarc@ or on Bluesky @ Advertisement
