The artist’s artist returns with one of the most vital albums of the year so far.
At this point it might be quicker to start listing the artists four times Grammy Award winner Phoebe Bridgers hasn’t influenced, than the ones she has. Even Taylor Swift is a huge fan. At thirty-one years old this is only her third full album, however, much of the six-year gap to 2020’s Punisher was filled by working on the outstanding super-group boygenius alongside Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker. She has also in the past contributed to the Better Oblivion Community Center project alongside Conor Oberst, better known by his Bright Eyes moniker.
This album felt like a big deal in the run-up, if you were naming the most essential artists of the 2020s, Bridgers name should definitely be in the conversation. For a sixteen-track album there was only one single released in advance, the excellent ‘Lost Boys.’ This is an interesting strategy at a time when many artists like to drip release five or six tracks from an album as singles to try and sustain some momentum in the conversation. Perhaps Bridgers is confident enough in her own fanbase at this stage to let an album do the talking for her. There have not been a lot of interviews or information released about the songs in the run-up. Bridgers has been playing the new songs to fans in intimate shows. This is a trick she is repeating in the UK with some short notice surprise gigs at Union Chapel, Circuit Kingston and Electric Bristol, ahead of a proper tour at the end of the year. Plenty of the album is autobiographical, Bridgers always ploughs her own life for interesting nuggets and emotions. There are a number of references to her collapsed relationship with fiancée Paul Mescal, and his new relationship with Gracie Abrams. Other topics include resigning herself to attracting a large share of outsiders to her work.
Bridgers has assembled an interesting team of talent around her on this album. Her right-hand man, as always, is singer-songwriter Christian Lee Hutson, a fine talent in his own right. He is credited as a lyricist on no less than twelve tracks out the sixteen. Her touring drummer Marshall Vore is the next most credited composer. The guest roster of artists and producers includes Ethan Gruska, Damien Jurado, Jack Antonoff, Tony Berg, Alexander Giannascoli (Alex G) and Bo Burnham. Caroline Shaw and Rob Moose provide arrangements for the back-to-back pair of ‘Panorama’ and ‘Still Standing.’ Stranger Things Maya Hawke (and wife of Christian Lee Hutson) gets a credit on ‘Never Going Back!’ Her father also appears on that track via a voice message, he died in 2022 and the album is dedicated to him.
The hallmark of Bridgers’ work is her high-quality lyrical observations, often surgeon-like in their devastating precision. She can use musical sparseness excellently, ‘Other Plans’ is one of the best examples on this album. If there was anything less to it the whole song would have just collapsed into nothingness. Her other brilliant trick is small moments that open up a song, or where something quite unexpected happens. This takes a range of forms. Opening up the album with a vocodered robotic voice is definitely a surprise, though here it is used to help express an episode of dissonant experience where she finds herself considering a moment from the boygenius tour. The sudden key change at the back end of ‘Lost Boys’ really elevates it. ‘The Governor’s Waltz’ is almost Mitski like. The way ‘I Can’t Wait’ drops out to the strings before coming back stronger adding in keyboard. The sudden roaring screamed vocals on ‘As Above’ from a singer is so often so quiet and controlled.
This is an excellent album, nearly a five-star classic. Bridgers cements herself as a pre-eminent artist of this era.
Essential Tracks: ‘Lost Boys,’ ‘Bobby,’ ‘Lost Weekend,’ ‘Still Standing,’ ‘Never Going Back!’ ‘Other Plans,’ Lost Parade,’ ‘I Can’t Wait’ and ‘As Above.’
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