STACK #244 February 2025

MUSIC FEATURE

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FUN FACT

Sharon Van Etten’s seventh studio album is a thrilling new start. KICK OUT THE JAMS

Sharon Van Etten is also an actor. She has appeared in the Netflix drama The OA , as well as Twin Peaks and the movies Never Rarely Sometimes Always and How It Ends .

T he new year brings a new beginning for Attachment Theory. “For the first time in my life I asked the band if we could just jam,” Van Etten says, explaining the creation of the self-titled album. “Words that have never come out of my mouth – ever! But I loved all the sounds we were getting. “I was curious – what would happen?” An hour later, the band had come up with I Can’t Imagine and Southern Life . After six solo albums, this is the first record credited to Van Etten and her band, The Attachment Theory – percussionist Jorge Balbi, bass player Devra Hoff, and multi-instrumentalist Teeny Lieberson. Van Etten admits she is both frightened and thrilled by her new venture. “Sometimes it’s exciting, sometimes it’s scary, sometimes you feel stuck,” she says. “It’s like every day feels a little different – just being at peace with whatever you’re feeling and whoever you are and how you relate to people in that moment. If I can just keep a sense of openness while knowing that my feelings change every day.” Jeff Jenkins America’s Sharon Van Etten, with the unveiling of the debut album by Sharon Van Etten & The

Some of Sharon Van Etten’s favourite artists are Aussies. In 2023 she released Close to You , a song she wrote with Court ney Barnett for the TV show The Buccaneers . Van Etten was also a fan of the late, great Rowland S. Howard. And when she was asked to list the albums that meant the most to her, Van Etten highlighted Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ No More Shall We Part , alongside John Cale’s Fear and Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk . AUSSIE ALERT

Sharon Van Etten

Photo credit: Susu Laroche

Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory by Sharon Van Etten is out Feb 7 via Rocket

CHART FACT

S am Fender likes watching people. He has called his third album People Watching , explaining that it’s about the “colourful stories and observations of everyday characters living their everyday, but often extraordinary, lives.” Fender sings: “I people-watch on the way back home, envious of the glimmer of hope/ Gives me a break from feeling alone/ Gives me a moment out of the ego.” Sam Fender’s new album is about the heroism of everyday life. PEOPLE, GET READY

While both of his albums have topped the UK charts, Sam Fender is yet to have a Top 40 album

FUN FACT

in Australia. Hypersonic Missiles peaked at 62, while Seventeen Going Under reached number 46.

Sam Fender appeared in the pilot episode of the British crime drama Vera . But he decided to pursue music over acting because he had “more control over it”.

The title track was inspired by the English artist visiting his friend and mentor Annie Orwin at a care facility. Fender says she was like a “surrogate mother”, who was “the one that gave me the confidence to go on stage”. Fender was by Orwin’s side when she died in November 2023. “But it wasn’t hard when you love someone,” he sings. “Oh, I stayed all night till you left this life, ’cause that’s just love.” Jeff Jenkins

Photo credit: Jack Whitefield

Sam Fender

FENDER BENDER Does Sam Fender play a Fender guitar? Yes, he does. His favourite instruments are the Fender American Professional Jazzmaster and the Fender American Professional Stratocaster.

People Watching by Sam Fender is out Feb 21 via Universal

44 FEBRUARY 2025

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