Album review

Sharon Van Etten and The Attachment Theory 

After a period hanging out with country-leaning fellow travellers such as Angel Olsen and Margot Price, Van Etten is back in rock mode for her seventh album overall, but with a twist: this record’s tonal choices often favour-wafting, almost gothic resonances.

Synths hover, Van Etten’s voice swoops; everything is gauze in a draught. There has always been something wonderfully smeared about her melodic voice, but the icy shadow in which everything here is cast often distracts from her searching songcraft.

Southern Life (What Must It Be Like) is winningly mantric, one instance of simpatico between track and treatment. But Van Etten is on far more substantial ’80s ground with Idiot Box, which has the scope and heft of Bruce Springsteen.