Since her release of her first studio album, Stages of The Sun, at age 14 and gaining popularity as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the band Big Thief, American musician Adrianne Lenker has continued to cement herself as a star of the indie folk genre for more than a decade.
Her sixth solo studio album Bright Future, released March 22, continues her legendary discography, and is filled with unique acoustic melodies, classic folk instrumentals and the whispers of bluegrass through her lyrics.
The album opens off with “Real House.” The intimacy of this first track is striking. In the song, she sings of her observations of her childhood, muddled with memories, and her insights into the emotions of her parents. Right off the bat, Lenker pulls listeners into her own world, rather than pushing her music into theirs.
Lenker carries this feeling throughout the album through the gentle melodies and magnetic lyrics of songs like “No Machine” and “Fool.” Beautifully raw, Lenker strums an acoustic guitar and croons about love, mentioning friends by name, and once again building a universe for the listener.
Some songs on the album are more experimental, such as “Evol.” While it is nice Lenker pushes boundaries within her work, this song messes with the flow of the album, and seems poetic in all the wrong ways.
Lyrics “Words back / words backwards / are lethal…Time spells emit/ who can see it?” come across as confusing rather than artistic. Lenker’s voice also takes on a strangely worried tone in this song, which paired with the lonely chords of a piano, gives the song an almost eerie feeling.
Lenker has a couple of songs with co-vocalists on this album, such as “Free Treasure” and “Donut Seam,” something that is unexpected on a solo album with no featured collaborators.
On these tracks, Lenker harmonizes beautifully with her unnamed singing partner, adding another element of candidness to her work, reminiscent of early folk, a genre not created to grab the attention of the world, but to tell a story for whoever was close enough to hear it.
I didn’t love “Vampire Empire”, which is Lenker’s rendition of a song previously written for her band, Big Thief. It is an incredibly raw look at a toxic relationship, with lines “I walked into your dagger/ for the last time in a row.” While the original version is one of my favorite songs of 2023, this newer version is subpar. It is sung at a much faster pace, which heavily alters the tone of the song.
“Candleflame” expresses everything I love about Lenker’s work, and is my favorite song lyrically off of the album, with lines “When we’re together/ only one thing moves/ everything else stays the same.”
Lenker’s voice in this song, while gentle, grabs the listener’s attention. This song, along with “Already Lost,” cements the way Lenker is able to craft a strong story through her gentle music.
“Sadness as A Gift” resonates with me. It is charged in many ways, with lines “You could hear the music inside my mind/ And you showed me a place I’ll find even when I’m old.” The lyrics of this song are vulnerable, and in turn, feel connected to Lenker.
The way Lenker slowly layers more instrumental elements into the song, such as guitar, piano and violin, creates a well molded melody, and helps the message of this song reach a satisfying conclusion.
This album feels nostalgic, as if the listener is stepping into Lenker’s memories. This is not an album heard from the nosebleeds of a stadium, it is the music you hear being played in your neighbors backyard or around a bonfire on the beach. Its unique qualities make it a glittering release of 2024.
Overall, Lenker is a lyricist at heart. Her work is reminiscent of iconic figures of the 1960s, such as, Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez, and she is on her way to becoming one of the greatest storytellers in music of our generation.
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