Sarah Morrison - Attachment Figure (2023)

Enduring works of psychological horror are often preceded by their scores. What would Solaris be without its surreal fusion of baroque organ and electroacoustic texture, or Twin Peaks sans Julee Cruise’s dream pop ballads? Inspired by the complex blend of emotions that arise when such soundtracks are divorced from their visual cues, Tallahassee, FL singer-songwriter Sarah Morrison’s debut studio album Attachment Figure depicts the strangeness of exploring new relationships with subtle and spacious electronic production.

“I love movies that make you feel uneasy rather than brutalized—comforted, yet disturbed at the same time,” says Morrison. Each of these sometimes contradictory emotions comes into play within Attachment Figure’s first verse, her trembling voice solely accompanied by a sequence of piano chords that fidget between harmony and dissonance. Reveling in this contrast, opener “Via Negativa” is named for the religious practice of knowing the divine by identifying what god is not. As lush, multi-tracked backup vocals and twinkling synthesizer fill the remaining sound field with murky hues, Morrison uses this mode of thinking to define true love through a history of failed romances.