For many, headlining the Royal Albert Hall marks the pinnacle of a musician’s career. For Sharon Van Etten, it also served as a spiritual homecoming for her masterful seventh LP.
Recorded at Crouch End’s Church Studios and inspired by the goth atmospherics of Cocteau Twins, The Cure and Siouxsie and the Banshees, Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment Theory underscores the New Jersey-native’s status as a lifelong Anglophile. It’s also notable as her first completely collaborative full-band record, written with drummer Jorge Balbi, bassist Devra Hoff and multi-instrumentalist Teeny Lieberson.
Live, the quartet were joined by an additional player, helping shape the shoegaze-y groove of Southern Life (What Must It Be Like), and layering additional guitar on a feedback-drenched rendition of Anything, taken from 2022’s album We’re Going About This All Wrong. Largely relieved from her usual duties as a guitarist, Van Etten committed whole-heartedly to the role of lead singer, shimmying at the mic stand, prowling the stage and – at one point – jogging on the spot.
Drenched in dry ice and frequently silhouetted beneath the venue’s imposing pipe organ, it felt like the 44-year-old’s most complete performance yet, the show’s stagecraft accentuating the brooding drama of the source material. With its mantra-like ‘Who wants to live forever’ refrain and slow-building synth arps, a hypnotic outing of Live Forever unfurled amongst purple mist, while Headspace arrived in a shroud of cyan smoke, adding an icy chill to its industrial percussion, distorted guitars and claustrophobic synths.
The latter was just one of several older tracks to receive a gothic rework, alongside a visceral outing of Seventeen and an emotional take on Tarifa, which Van Etten famously performed on Twin Peaks: The Return in 2017. Dedicated to David Lynch, the latter was reimagined as a warped waltz, its woozy synth textures and ethereal vocal redolent of Lynch-favourite Julee Cruise.
Throughout, the enormity of the occasion always seemed at the forefront of Van Etten’s mind. Revelling in her connection to the city, she reminisced about her early shows at The Slaughtered Lamb and the Scala, joked about her adoptive nickname ‘Shazza’ and even affected a questionable Cockney accent. She also became misty-eyed while addressing her family in the audience, and reflecting on her 15+ year musical journey from solo folk singer to rock frontwoman.
Paying tribute to her band before the encore, she explained, “Anyone who has experienced trauma knows it’s hard to let people in… But you have to trust people and to believe in humanity.” Performed in tribute to her late father-in-law and “anyone who’s lost anyone”, the impressionistic ebb and flow of set-closer ‘Fading Beauty’ underscored that message beautifully, providing a spellbinding ending to, what was, a stunning homecoming.
Touring. More information at sharonvanetten.com
