Adrianne Lenker – Bright Future
Between her unparalleled songwriting ability, her singular voice and her innate “it”-ness, Adrianne Lenker could pretty much sit down in a room and record a gorgeous album. So, for her latest solo record, that’s essentially what the Big Thief frontwoman decided to do. Decamping to the woodsy Double Infinity studio with a clutch of new songs, co-producer Philip Weinrobe and a small group of hand-selected musicians, Lenker has managed – again – to lay down a gorgeous, sensitive set of heartbreakers. Bright Future, like Buck Meek’s Haunted Mountain (released last year), reminds us that, even without a proper Big Thief record, we continue to get the best from the collective talents of this band.
“Real House” starts Bright Future with a whisper. Lenker, accompanied by Nick Hakim’s piano and just an initial hint of violin from Josefin Runsteen, introduces us to Lenker as a young girl – “I’m a child humming/Into the clarity of black space.” We hear musicians shuffling about the studio and shifting in their seats – this is low-res analog at its best – as Lenker moves through hospital traumas and the loss of a family pet (gut wrenching, this part in particular) so we see why the singer feels as off-kilter as she now does – “Mama, what happened?/I never thought we’d go this long/Now 31 and I don’t feel strong/And your love is all I want.” As album openers go, it’s about as naked and unguarded as you’ll hear.
“Sadness As A Gift,” guided along by a (full) violin part from Runsteen, shares the best qualities of a simple country weeper – Lenker’s acoustic guitar and lovely harmonies from Mat Davidson – while Lenker ever-so-sweetly rips a lover’s (and a listener’s) heart out – “Chance has shut her shining eyes/And turned her face away.” Even while mourning a relationship that will never fully end – “Leaning on the windowsill/You could write me someday and I think you will” – the present grief, apparently unaccompanied by the kind of temporary hate that can at least provide a momentary diversion, is near unbearable – “We could see the sadness as a gift and still/Feel too heavy to hold.”
“Fool,” with Lenker’s plucked, chime-y electric guitar and quirky rhythms, feels like the closest thing to a typical Big Thief tune on Bright Future, but it’s a reworked “Vampire Empire” (released by the band as a two-sided, 7” single last year) that will intrigue fans the most. You can hear the group feeling its way through the erstwhile rocker, particularly in Davidson’s probing violin line, creating an all-new, rustic take that feels like it existed long before the full-band version. Meanwhile, “Free Treasure,” the only co-write (with James Krivchenia) on the record, is most notable for its simple harmonies with Davidson as Lenker sings of the ease found in sharing time with the right companion – “Just when I thought I couldn’t feel more/I feel a little more.”
Lenker’s characteristic wordplay is felt most clearly on “Evol.” Backed by her own piano and Runsteen’s fluttering violin, Lenker twists words until we reconsider their meaning – “Love spells evol backwards, people.” One might pause to consider whether that could be “evil” or “evolution” until Lenker breaks the trippy lyrical pattern with a simple “You have my heart I want it back.” She may, indeed, have that heart back by the end of Bright Future, but she’s just as willing to give it up again on the spare piano ballad “Ruined.” Already re-broken at the beginning – “Until I’m brave enough to call you/I just fall through every time” – she keeps coming back for more…love? Heartbreak? She’s fully prepared for both – “Can’t get enough of you/You come around, I’m ruined.” Like Lenker, the listener needs to be ready for the best, but prepared for the tears to flow.
Song I Can’t Wait to Hear Live: “Donut Seam” – in addition to having the most Big-Thief-title-wthout-being-an-actual-Big-Thief-song, the tune has some lovely group vocals as Lenker honors both the passage of a relationship and the end of the world – “This whole world is dying/Don’t it seem like a good time for swimming/Before all the water disappears.”
Bright Future was produced by Philip Weinrobe and Adrianne Lenker, recorded and mixed by Weinrobe and mastered by Josh Bonati. All songs written by Lenker (“Free Treasure” co-written by James Krivchenia). Musicians on the album include Lenker (vocals, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, Crystal), Weinrobe (piano, banjo), Mat Davidson (vocals, Stratocaster, acoustic guitar, violin, piano), Josefin Runsteen (vocals, violin, percussion), Nick Hakim (vocals, piano) and Noah Lenker (percussion),
Go here to order Bright Future (out March 22): https://store.bigthief.net/
Check out tour dates here: https://www.adriannelenker.com/tour
Enjoy our previous coverage here: Show Review: Big Thief at Ulster Performing Arts Center
