Over the years, World Cafe has featured what we call "all-stars" — artists who release great records back to back and make a point to talk about them on the show. Sharon Van Etten definitely qualifies as a 21st century all-star, with a run of impressive solo albums dating back to her debut, Because I Was in Love.
Most recently, Van Etten was on World Cafe last year to talk about the biggest change in her musical life to date: forming a full-fledged band with her longtime backing musicians.
"It happened pretty naturally," she said. "I call it a bit of a sonic trust fall with this group of people that I've been working with."
Today, you get to hear the results of that trust fall with The Attachment Theory, the name of the new band. Plus, you'll hear what makes Sharon Van Etten such a compelling live performer.
This episode of World Cafe was produced by Will Loftus. The web story was created by Miguel Perez. Our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our senior producer is Kimberly Junod.
Copyright 2026 XPN
