Adrianne Lenker - Bright Future (2024) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Adrianne Lenker is an astoundingly prolific songwriter. As leader of Big Thief, she wrote the band's 2022 double album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You. Bookending that, she penned a pair of solo albums (2020's Songs and Instrumentals) and the new Bright Future. Lenker recorded Bright Future in a solitary analog studio with co-producer Philip Weinrobe and a core group of musicians: Nick Hakim, Mat Davidson, and Josefin Runsteen. Owing to this stripped-down configuration, the album possesses an earthy feel dominated by acoustic guitars, spectral piano, and Lenker's intimate vocals. The musicians layer bewitching harmonies on the country-leaning "Already Lost," while opening track "Real House" starts with an audible creak, as if someone is settling into a chair, and gives way to vivid, stream-of-consciousness lyrics: "Do you remember coming to the hospital when I was 14?/ My friends all left me there spinning/ Dad was angry that you saw everything." The latter track sets the tone for the rest of Bright Future, which finds Lenker in an especially vulnerable, confessional mood. "Candleflame" is a solemn acoustic number infused with a spiritual vibe; "Fool" recalls the homespun songs of early Liz Phair; and Lenker reaches into her falsetto range to match light-touch piano on "Evol." The original recording of Big Thief's "Vampire Empire" is scratchy, lo-fi indie rock instead of spectral pop, giving the song new dimensions. And the album-closing "Ruined" is gentle and devastating, with spacious arrangements, deep-space twinkling production and Lenker sounding weary as she sings, "Can't get enough of you/ You come around I'm ruined." In the end, Bright Future illustrates that Lenker's quality control never wavers in spite of her songwriting productivity—and celebrates the joy of collaboration and creativity.

TRACKLIST

1. Adrianne Lenker - Real House
2. Adrianne Lenker - Sadness As A Gift
3. Adrianne Lenker - Fool
4. Adrianne Lenker - No Machine
5. Adrianne Lenker - Free Treasure
6. Adrianne Lenker - Vampire Empire
7. Adrianne Lenker - Evol
8. Adrianne Lenker - Candleflame
9. Adrianne Lenker - Already Lost
10. Adrianne Lenker - Cell Phone Says
11. Adrianne Lenker - Donut Seam
12. Adrianne Lenker - Ruined



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