Adrianne Lenker - Bright Future Review
Transportive and sincere, it’s hard not to lament on the lyrical ability of Lenker when her guitar playing is just as good.
Adrianne Lenker knows how to write a song. Whether that be in collaboration with the members of Big Thief, or her solo efforts in, her talent is something that is undisputed amongst most. Imparting her wisdom and guidance, Lenker recently lead a songwriting workshop, meeting online with aspiring songwriters to convene and dissect songs, dropping pearls of advice that can shift the mid into gorgeous. Hot off the success of ‘Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You’, Lenker has recruited a different team of collaborators that include names like Nick Hakim, Josefin Runsteen, Mat Davidson, Philip Weinrobe and her own brother Noah Lenker. In turn? An album that is simply sensational.
The static, slow paced piano of the album opener ‘Real House’ is a prelude to what will come to the forefront of the album, arrested tenderness. The music might not sound complex, but this is what gifted musicians do, make songs sound achievable until you watch it live with your mouth slightly opened or your eyes just that bit more widened at the intricacies that is the fabric of the song.
‘No Machine’ is a classic folk love song, set in its foundations of limerence, singing on a lost feeling. ‘Free Treasure’ captures nature as this force, Lenker telling of Intimacies through these vignettes of life like cooking in the kitchen and lying down next to one another and sharing trauma. Showcasing her vocal abilities on ‘Vampire Empire’, this song is playful in the upbeat sonics contrasted with the violent level of devotion the between these two people in this relationship set out for us to encounter. The introduction of the marimba around the second verse enchanting and places the love depicted in a fairy-tale bubble.
‘Evol’ is a personal favourite, the title being the word ‘love’ spelt backwards. Lenker analyses and ruminates on language to make sense of the duplicity of other’s actions, highlighted when she sings at the end of the chorus ‘the giver takes, the taker gives’. ‘Ruined’ is a sad, heart-breaking, track to close the album on which I’d expect no different from, ‘my angel’ from her previous album ‘songs’ being a piercing tale of near death and wonder. The final punch in a narrator that comes through as exhausted, ‘can’t get enough of you/you come around I’m ruined’.
Transportive and sincere, it’s hard not to lament on the lyrical ability of Lenker when her guitar playing is just as good. We know this. I guess there’s only so much you can say about a beautiful thing outside of describing it as beautiful. ‘Bright Future’ is a beast of beauty, incorporating the best of Lenker; intricate guitar picking, intimate lyricism, and an ability to create imagery that lingers past the music.