On Mar. 22, Adrianne Lenker released her newest album, Bright Future, which contains 12 perfectly-crafted songs bestowing a multitude of emotions upon the listener. It touches on delicate topics such as religion, love and human extinction.
The fifth track, “Free Treasure,” has a sappy nostalgic feeling within the lyrics as she recounts moments with her partner. In the song, Lenker recognizes her lover’s affection with the repeating lyric, “You show me understanding/Patience and pleasure/Time and attention/Love without measure.” These things in my opinion make up a healthy relationship and are imitated within the song. The way her voice echoes throughout the song is ethereally bewitching and you can feel the love she holds for her lover. I think what quantifies the softness of their relationship is the sixth verse: “We lay around for hours/Talk about childhood pain/Mom and dad and past lives too/I can tell you anything/I can say anything.” When you trust and love someone, you feel vulnerable enough to share your sadness with them. This shows the immense trust they both have in their relationship and is in my opinion admirable.
A cover of “Vampire Empire” takes its place as the sixth track on the album. The song is originally by Big Thief, a band she is also the lead singer for. Lenker said the song is about getting out of toxic internal patterns. I always interpreted the song as being in a confusing toxic relationship. Her cover has more of a country twang to it and doesn’t really have as much raw emotion as the original. It almost sounds happy because of the whimsical fiddle she added in the background. I by no means hate it; I just prefer the desperation and anger that is emulated in the original. The lyric, “I walked into your dagger for the last time in a row/It’s like trying to start a fire with matches in the snow,” holds no emotion like it did in the original. It’s not even that Lenker’s voice can’t pull it off; she sang the original, and all of her other songs ooze with deep emotion shown through her sorrowful voice, but the rest of this cover left me hungry, wishing for more.
The eighth track is called “Candleflame,” and it shows how Lenker’s voice is angelically beautiful. If God exists, they wove purity in her voice. The song explores her relationship with religion and feeling different. The lyric that has the most impact upon me is “I feel God here and there/People tell me it’s everywhere/You know I know you can’t explain/Cryin’ over the candle flame.” Lenker is not only a lovely singer but a poet with her words. She can spin any concept into poetry; her lyrics never fail to disappoint me.
The tenth track, “Cell Phone Says,” is one of the oldest songs on Bright Future; the first known solo performance was in May of 2019. The song is about Lenker’s experiences with long distance relationships, where she can only see her lover in dreams and on her cell phone. My favorite verse is the third one: “Oh, giver of empathy/It is a gift so bitter that you brought to me/’Cause I feel what they’re feeling and I know that they’re free/And the freedom they take is the earthly burden.” I like the imagery that empathy is a gift but also a burden on the reserver. The song has a lullaby feel to it and is awfully calming yet sorrowful at the same time.
My favorite is the eleventh track, “Donut Seam,” which is a play on the words “don’t it seem.” The song offers a perspective on human extinction with climate change and water levels. The chorus, accompanied by singer Nick Hakim, is soft and almost comforting. “This whole world is dying/Don’t it seem like a good time for swimming/Before all the water disappears?” The song is a soft explanation to enjoy life while we have it. I think this is a lovely message: enjoying life shouldn’t go completely away when life goes to hell. Another honorable part of the song is the utter love their relationship holds in the song. This can be seen in the verses, one example being the lyric, “Ever since the day we met/I loved you and I don’t regret/The way we passed the time/Drinking coffee, drinking wine.” It may just be the softness of the instruments or Lenker’s enchanting voice, but she makes the best love songs. You can really feel the emotion in her voice and the love she holds in all her songs, but it’s especially present in this one.
Bright Future is a phenomenal album that I would recommend anyone listen to. This is only a snippet of the album, but if you enjoy indie or folk music, I highly recommend it.
