Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher Review
There’s noticeably more optimism in this album compared to her debut.
It’s been three long years since Phoebe Bridgers’ debut album ‘Strangers in the Alps’ made such an emotional impact on me. I was immediately taken by the intimate production, the closeness of Phoebe’s voice and the occasionally harrowingly depressing lyrics. Something about it made the album really resonate with me. Ever since, I couldn’t wait to hear how Phoebe Bridgers’ Sophomore project would sound. Though in the interim Bridgers has been prolific, having formed a lovely supergroup of sorts with Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker entitled Boygenius. Bridgers also worked with Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes fame on ‘Better Oblivion Community Center’.
I feel like ‘Punisher’ is Phoebe Bridgers’ attempt to recreate the sounds of her first album in a more accessible light. There’s noticeably more optimism in this album compared to her debut. ‘DVD Menu’ is a short atmospheric opener, similar to the outro of ‘Stranger in the Alps’. I really enjoyed this intro and it seemed like a fitting callback to her previous work while also a nice precursor to the upcoming record. ‘Garden Song’ was the first song I heard from this album and it left me unfortunately underwhelmed. I felt the production was too blurry and the bass’ muddiness did little for the song. Though, given the context of the rest of the record, this track makes sense. When speaking to Apple Music about ‘Punisher’ Bridgers stated ‘It’s about all your good thoughts that you have becoming real, and all the shitty stuff that you think becoming real, too. If you’re afraid of something all the time, you’re going to look for proof that it happened, or that it’s going to happen. And if you’re a miserable person who thinks that good people die young and evil corporations rule everything, there is enough proof in the world that that’s true. But if you’re someone who believes that good people are doing amazing things no matter how small, and that there’s beauty or whatever in the midst of all the darkness’. I thought this was a really interesting take and an interesting topical course for the album to take, especially considering the half optimistic, half pessimistic, attitude you feel in Bridgers’ work.
‘Kyoto’ is definitely one of the most enjoyable indie singles of 2020. However, in the context of the album it’s quite bizarre. Something about hearing this as the second single misled my expectations of this album. I was expecting a bit of a mix-up from the often depressing and slow songs we were used to with Phoebe Bridgers. Something about the horns here and the horns of the last song remind me so much of that mid-2000s emo sound akin to Panic at the Disco. ‘Punisher’ is quite an emotive song. I really love the concept and theme behind the piece; however, like many of the songs on this record it just seems derivative of things we’ve heard before. All it really brings of substance is a sombre atmosphere. ‘Halloween’ is definitely one of the best songs on the record. The beautifully quiet plucked strings throughout this track are exquisite. Lyrically, I feel Phoebe Bridgers is maybe addressing a partner and the idea that just for one night you could be anything and forget about the issues in the world — or in the relationship. The ending of this track is lovely, with strong Andrew Bird vibes, as the pianos, plucked violins, and guitars intertwine with one another.
On ‘Chinese Satellite’ Bridgers touches on her religious viewpoints stating ‘because I think when you’re gone it’s forever’; though she later goes on to affirm that she wants to be wrong. There’s bleakness to the religious undertones in this track. Nonetheless, towards the end it picks up that indie rock vibe Kyoto had but for all too short a time. ‘Moon Song’ is another slower track and one of the few that emotionally resonated with me in the same way her first record did. Something about the theme of the track – Bridgers’ inability to move beyond her issues instead bottling them up and letting people walk over her but almost allowing it to happen – feels genuinely heartbreaking at times.
On first listen of ‘Savior Complex’ I couldn’t help but get Disney musical vibes. Whether this is a good thing or not is listener-dependent — but at this stage I was expecting something with a bit more energy considering her first album was full of songs similar to this (only better). Musically the soaring strings are beautiful and the work that’s gone into the production on this record is more apparent by this stage. There are no doubt that Bridgers’ arrangements and instrumentation choices have grown but it almost feels like the musical additions have taken away from the intimacy that gave her debut its strength.
‘ICU’ is another song that is probably closer to the vain of Kyoto but it’s comparatively weak. Once again you get those Disney vibes when Bridgers sings ‘I feel something, when I see you’. However, Bridgers is really incredible at creating lyrics which have multiple connotations and could relate to anyone. Perfectly evidenced by lines like ’I don’t know what I want, Until I fuck it up’. ‘Graceland Too’ is a little bit boring by comparison of the other tracks on this album. Musically, its plodding melody feels like some early folk music that probably wasn’t relevant in the 60s let alone now. Lyrically, however, I like the sentiment Phoebe Bridgers is stating here, saying that she wants to help but finds it hard while still stating that she ‘would do anything’.
The last track ‘I Know the End’ starts as a suitably sad song to close the album. At some point halfway through this track blows up and becomes explosively epic. The last minute of this track irritates me to be honest; why isn’t the rest of this album this good? This is the kind of thing I’ve been dreaming about throughout this record. If Bridgers wanted she could put out something a bit more explosive like this instead of ‘Strangers in the Alps 2: Disney edition’.
One of my biggest issues with this album is that I personally believe Phoebe Bridgers could have literally done anything she wanted for her second album but chose instead to produce an ostensibly watered down version of her first album, which is ironic because ‘Garden Song’ literally sounds like its underwater. For whatever reason, I was hoping Bridgers would diversify and release something unalike her previous work. However, there are some definite strong moments on this album but I’m not sure Phoebe Bridgers has musically progressed into a place that’s any more interesting than her initial release, even despite the album’s strengths.
