Is it possible to express the feeling of connection and emotional security in music and to record it? What does friendship sound like, or closeness, or trust? These and similar questions undoubtedly inspired Big Thief vocalist Adrianne Lenker to create her new solo album. Together with her three allies, Nick Hakim, Mat Davidson and Josefin Runsteen, she found the answers in a fully analogue Double Infinity studio far from civilisation. It’s pretty magical making music together in a room deep in the woods and listening to each other carefully and intuitively, as »Bright Future« proves. The new songs have a fragile, organic, spontaneous and unfiltered sound, recorded in a live setting with minimal editing. Even the smallest details, like fingertips on guitar strings or the soft sound of felt pads on the piano, can be striking. You can always tell how close someone was to the microphone by the volume of their voice. Lenker is an intimate and trusting performer, singing her touching, mostly sad love songs in a way that is both heartfelt and playful. She realises (as Sonic Youth did long ago) that »love« spelt backwards is »evol«, »kiss« becomes »ssik«, »teach« becomes »cheat« and »part« becomes »trap«, only to demand quite clearly in the chorus, »You have my heart/I want it back«. It is all too easy to be enchanted by »Bright Future«, as if you had been there during the recording sessions.
Future Islands
People Who Aren’t There Anymore
4AD