A month after a couple of NYC shows following their European tour, Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory launched their U.S. tour in Atlanta, performing seven of ten tracks from their self-titled album, released in February.
Formerly a solo artist, Van Etten took a rare step choosing, in her forties, to start a formal band. Afte the first several songs, Van Etten spoke candidly about her need for people that she really likes and trusts and could form a safe space – a family – for while on the road.
Onstage, that trust radiated. The new songs are richer, heavier, and more urgent than her past work, drawing shadows from ’80s and ’90s moody post-punk and industrial textures. Recorded, the album feels layered and lush; live, it hits like a slow-building wave, with Devra Hoff’s bass giving a deeper pulse to the room’s air.
The night opened quietly, Van Etten almost guarded as she stepped into the delicate reflections of “Live Forever.” Her gift has always been compression — raw emotion packed into spare, piercing lines. On stage, she bore it openly, almost stoic, her hands left to express how she felt.
As the night continued, she moved farther from center stage, joining her bandmates and lowering her eyes to contact the audience more directly. One fan commented that “No One’s Easy to Love” meant a lot to her when it was released in 2019. “The whole album does.” Not “did.” While the new material may still be fresh, it connects to the life experience, and Variety Playhouse’s sound was a splendid example of fairly loud live music still giving room for the lyrics to be heard clearly.
“Seventeen” had its expected catharsis: Van Etten on her knees, shrieking “You’re gonna be just like me!” demonstrating her vulnerability, strength and frustration that a younger version of herself wouldn’t hear her call as an adult.
The set’s closer, “I Want You Here,” burned with desperate energy. Then came the encore: “Fading Beauty,” a minimalist consideration of aging, its meditative pacing and repeated keyboard phrases a musical mantra leading to the chorus: “The inherent beauty of light / The faded beauty of life.” The song seems a bit out of place on the album, but it survived as an earworm when leaving the venue.
If there was one complaint, it would be than an hour and twenty minutes wasn’t enough. Sure, it was a work night, but it’s not like anyone would have left if they had continued the encore with “Southern Life (What It Must Be Like)”… we wouldn’t take it personally.
Setlist:
Encore:
Love Spells, or Sir Taegen Harris, opened the evening. With guitarist Lazer Cohen on one side and drummer Oliver Cooper on the other, Harris took the stage and casually set a bottle of water on a stool, put on a jacket, adjusted his headphones and fiddled with the microphone stand.
Harris and Cooper looked at each other, knowing… knowing that this was Harris’ fourth time playing live in front of an audience.
Situated on the stool, Harris thanked the crowd for coming in, as he would two more times, and, as the guys kicked in musically, surprised the audience with a soft voice some octaves higher than his speaking voice.
It took Harris, in sunglasses, a few songs to settle in and move his eyes from the ceiling to the audience, then to stand and sing microphone in hand, then to talk about his songs, which came easily. And with that, he won the audience over.
Harris, and hopefully his bandmates who created the perfect accompaniment to Harris’ songs and vocals, will be an interesting artist to follow. It seemed he took a giant step forward this night.
Setlist:
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