LIVE REVIEW: Sharon Van Etten and finding strength in numbers

The indie singer-songwriter's live show has benefitted from some jam sessions with her "new" band The Attachment Theory

Sharon Van Etten performs with her band The Attachment Theory at Saint Andrew’s Hall in Detroit on Monday, May 5, 2025. Photo | Marty Slagter

A few songs into her set earlier this week at Saint Andrew’s Hall, Sharon Van Etten remarked that she had never been more confident as an artist, thanks in large part to the chemistry and bond she had developed with her “new” band The Attachment Theory.

Seeing the band perform live it was immediately evident why its debut album as a proper outfit released earlier this year has resonated with fans old and new.

The product of some purposeful jam sessions after Van Etten’s last tour, it is clear the band — comprised of Jorge Balbi (drums), Devra Hoff (bass, vocals) and Teeny Lieberson (synths, vocals) — has taken a more central role in creating an atmosphere on stage as it patched together the album and the singer/songwriter’s greatest hits in the rhythmic and sonically dramatic set.

Hearing the album live -- easily one of my favorites of 2025 so far -- was a key motivator in getting me to the show. It offered an opportunity to see one of my favorite artists of this century as she embarked on a new and potentially exciting period of creativity built behind a more instinctive, atmospheric and collaborative approach in the studio.

I’ve loved her music since her 2012 album Tramp rocked my world with its beauty and raw vulnerability after naturally learning about it as an album one of the dudes from The National produced. Her confessional outpourings came off as hard-earned wisdom to me on songs like All I Can, with economical lines like I want my scars to help and heal, expressing so much in so few words.

Those who have loved Van Etten for her immediately disarming voice and uncomfortably confessional lyrics can rest assured she’s just as potent in the new role as leader of this new post punk inspired outfit.

The formula was evident from the set’s first song and album opener Live Forever, with Van Etten coolly delivering the song’s inverse Oasis question of Who wants to live forever? as the band built a swirling, intensifying synth-driven sound behind her. Van Etten’s voice and the band merged at the song’s dramatic sonic apex, delivering a powerful rendition of the album highlight.

There was a lot of that throughout the night.

Part of what makes Van Etten such a unique and beloved songwriter fans have connected with for the past 15 years is her ability to seamlessly shift between tender, hushed guitar strummers and the more cathartic, emotionally honest rock and roll. In both roles, her ethereal voice is the reliable go-to attraction.

Just hearing that voice live was enough for me to consider the night a success. What really elevated the show, though, was watching Van Etten vibe with band members, taking time during each song to joke and physically connect while they played some of her best songs for the first time on tour.

Members were locked in and frantic on the intense Southern Life (What it Must Be Like), a highlight of the evening. I Can’t Imagine (Why You Feel This Way) found them completely locked in a groove behind what Van Etten remarked was one of two songs that inspired the band reimagining while jamming together on tour.

The weighty pop majesty on Afterlife was executed by Van Etten and company with grace and care on a song about life, love and connection. A couple of songs later, she and the band sounded the alarm on the cathartic Somethin’ Ain’t Right, a political song for *gestures wildly* these times.

Van Etten’s “hits” included a more stripped down version of Tarifa and a slightly bouncier, more sped up version of Every Time the Sun Comes Up from 2014’s critically acclaimed Are We There. Two of her most recognizable songs, Seventeen and Comeback Kid, provided bass-heavy boppers that shook the floor to a surprising degree. They were among four songs played from Van Etten’s 2019 breakthrough Remind Me Tomorrow, along with Hands and No One’s Easy to Love, which most closely resembles the DNA of the band’s most recent album in a live setting.

She also reached deep into her back catalog to strum the hushed confessional I Wish I Knew from her 2009 debut Because I Was in Love during a two-song encore set that concluded with the spacey, unraveling late album highlight Fading Beauty. The restless Anything from 2022’s We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong perfectly encapsulated the current weight of the outside world with Van Etten’s angelic cry of Can’t stop thinking ‘bout peace and war/Up the whole night.

Van Etten’s stage banter was what you might expect: Genuine and heartfelt in appreciation of the opportunity to return to Detroit and play, despite her self-professed, career-long stage fright. Still, the confidence the Brooklyn via Tennessee singer/songwriter alluded to was on display throughout the evening as she mimed and timed punches for dramatic emphasis, periodically finger pointing and making direct eye contact with audience members in an invitation to extend the connection felt on stage. She also does a pretty good robot!

Seeing Van Etten’s inspiration and confidence on display alongside her more involved band was rewarding after admiring all of the other risks in lyrical choices and soul baring she’s taken over the course of her seven album career. Like the album that resulted from that risk - dare I say, the finest of her career -- it felt cohesive and complete.