Sharon Van Etten Searches for Compassion on “Southern Life (What It Must Be Like)”

On “Southern Life (What It Must Be Like)” Sharon Van Etten gives another taste of her new band and upcoming album.

Accompanied by drummer Jorge Balbi, bassist Devra Hoff, and multi-instrumentalist Teeny Lieberson, The Attachment Theory was born from jam sessions and Van Etten’s desire to listen to others.

Improvisation in a jam session is another way to discovery. It’s a similar approach to Van Etten’s pursuit in “Southern Life (What It Must Be Like).”

Past, Present, and Future Selves

Van Etten describes her new single as “trying to understand people with very different perspectives and backgrounds, while also trying to be compassionate towards our past, present, and future selves.”

All my life I closed my eyes
And stumbled in with wayward mind
A stubborn child, but love did have
With one light shining, overlooked

Oh, I wish I knew what you had said
I was hardened by what thoughts you meant

The idea of new perspectives also changed how Van Etten approached her upcoming album—as a band instead of a solo artist.

“After days of rehearsing the songs from the album and how to execute them live, I was getting tired of hearing myself. I didn’t want to over-rehearse the songs to death,” she said. This led to jamming with her band and discovering new music as a unit.

Why can’t you see it from the other side?
We must imagine what it must be like
The Southern life
It’s such a f—ing lie

The Attachment Theory

Van Etten and The Attachment Theory will release their new LP on February 7, 2025. They shared the first single, “Afterlife,” last October.

Both tracks are synth-driven, and you can hear echoes of the dark post-punk Van Etten explored on Remind Me Tomorrow. It continues a steady evolution from her indie and earthy folk beginnings.

Ethan Dawes directed the music video for “Southern Life (What It Must Be Like),” which features live clips of the band performing at the Viper Room in Los Angeles.

Since 2009, Van Etten has built a growing catalog of exposed and increasingly self-assured confessionals. On her defining album Are We There, she recorded one of the decade’s finest indie tracks, “Every Time the Sun Comes Up.” If you want to introduce Van Etten’s songwriting to a newbie, begin there.

Everything’s Political

We live in an age where politics has bombarded every aspect of life. Everything’s national. Everything’s an outrage. And all lines contain some “enemy.”

There’s a lyric in “Southern Life (What It Must Be Like)” where Van Etten sings, My hands are shaking as a mother / Trying to raise her son right. On social media, as in politics, bad behavior consistently gets rewarded. So how does one raise a child in a world enamored with nihilism?

Her song doesn’t attempt to give answers. Instead, it may be up to the children to fix the abysmal mess the adults have left behind.

Shall his life be like my shooting star,
Forever frozen? No, he’s too smart

Meanwhile, crank “Southern Life (What It Must Be Like)” and hold tight until Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory arrives.

Photo by Andrew Benge/Redferns