Hello Reader,
Welcome back to the site. We’re happy that you’re here.
Today we’re going to delve into Adrianne Lenker. She was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and raised in a Christian cult until the age of four, then spent her formative years in Minneapolis suburbs before going back forth between Santa Cruz, California and Minneapolis in her teens. Before she received her GED at age 16, Lenker had already released her first solo album at age 14. Not long after she was off to Boston to the prestigious Berklee College of Music on a scholarship provided by the supremely talented Susan Tedeschi of the awesome Tedeschi Trucks Band led by herself and her talented husband Derek Trucks. A band worth checking worth your time, after you finish this review.
It was at Berklee that Lenker explored music, meeting future bandmate Buck Meek at a show in Boston. The two would meet again immediately when Lenker moved to NYC after her graduation from Berklee and they soon began performing as a duo. A few years later, in 2015 they added a drummer, and bass guitarist and became the band, Big Thief. Coincidentally all four attended Berklee College of Music at some point. Big Thief has released five well-regarded studio albums.
Though in past interviews, Lenker doesn’t consider her album released at 14 to be part of her official discography, it still was crafted, created, produced and released so I have included it amongst her solo albums for a full biographic picture. Lenker’s solo albums include Stages of the Sun (2006), Hours Were the Birds (2014), Abysskiss (2018), Songs (2020), and Instrumentals (2020). In fall of 2022, Lenker recorded an album with the help of a talented group of musicians. And today, March 22nd is the release day for her sixth solo album Bright Future. For your listening pleasure, this album was released via the fantastic 4AD Records label.
Giving credit where it’s due. Bright Future Album credits:
- Adrianne Lenker: lends vocals on every song, plays acoustic 12 string guitar on “Sadness As A Gift”, plays acoustic guitar on “Fool”, “No Machine,” “Free Treasure,” “Vampire Empire,” “Candleflame,” “Already Lost,” “Cell Phone Says,” and “Donut Seam,” plays electric guitar on “Fool,” plays piano on “Evol,” and “Ruined” and crystal on “Ruined” as well. Produced and wrote all the songs, including a co-writing credit on “Free Treasure” with James Krivchenia (best known as the drummer in Big Thief)
- Josefin Runsteen: plays violin on “Real House”,”Sadness As a Gift,” “Evol” and “Candleflame” and lends vocals “Sadness As A Gift”, “No Machine”,”Vampire Empire” “Candleflame” and “Donut Seam” and plays percussion “Vampire Empire”
- Nick Hakin: plays piano on “Real House,” “Sadness As a Gift,” and “Vampire Empire” and lends vocals on “Sadness As A Gift,” “No Machine,” “Vampire Empire” and “Donut Seam”
- Mat Davidson: plays electric guitar on “Sadness As A Gift”, acoustic guitar on “No Machine,” and “Free Treasure,” lends vocals on “No Machine,” “Free Treasure,” “Vampire Empire,” “Candleflame,” and “Donut Seam,” plays violin on “Vampire Empire”, and plays piano on “Candleflame”
- Noah Lenker: plays percussion on “Already Lost”
- Philip Weinrobe: plays banjo on “Already Lost,” and produced, recorded and mixed the album.
- Josh Bonati mastered the album.
And now some hype for your ears!
The lyric video for “Sadness As A Gift”:
(All credits and rights to Adrianne Lenker)
The jovial video with a good amount of furry friends in “Fool”:
(All credits and rights to Adrianne Lenker)
The nature set video for “Ruined”
(All credits and rights to Adrianne Lenker)
Overall Bright Future is a wonderful listening experience from start to finish. You get the fantastic songwriting from Lenker. She knows what she wants to say and conveys it well. Her words become vivid stories. There are excellent efforts and musicianship from all the contributors. No drums are needed on this album; the very sparse percussion is more than sufficient. The arrangements are excellent. And the sonic quality is top notch.
The first song on Bright Future, “Real House” starts our listening journey with lyrics that are told from a present-day perspective reflecting on adolescent memories with mom and dad ranging from happiness of a home to hospital visits both for a human and a beloved pet. And the lyrics also talk about the need for one’s parents. The melody is piano driven with a few notes of violin around 30 seconds in. Lenker’s vocals are delivered in a singsong cadence with a lot of emotion.
“Sadness As A Gift” is the next song on the album. The melody builds with acoustic guitar strumming and is accompanied by electric guitar, piano and violin and backing harmonious vocals from Davidson, Hakim and Runsteen that truly fill out the sound. The lyrics contemplate changes, gratitude and perspective and the vocals are delivered with some bittersweetness.
In “Fool” Lenker is a one woman show playing both electric and acoustic guitars and contributing vocals. The lyrics tell a story of missed opportunity and longing to be with someone.
The fourth song, “No Machine” features lyrics that are resolute and yearning at times yet they are also vulnerable and concerned as well. The refrain really drives the latter home. The backing harmonious vocals of Davidson, Hakim and Runsteen pair well with Lenker’s vocals and provide a beautiful listening experience.
“Free Treasure” is a love song. A song that shows off grateful lyrics especially among its refrain. One a well-traveled person can relate to, that refuge within a place/person which one has. The melody is stripped down. It is two acoustic guitars that mesh with each other but that melody choice is perfect as it allows Davidson’s vocals to compliment Lenker’s.
The melody on “Vampire Empire” kicks off strongly with percussion from Runsteen and acoustic guitar from Lenker. Later Davidson joins on violin and Hakin on piano. The lyrics tell of a relationship with its oneness, it’s infatuation and its frustrations. Again the refrains are well used to further the songwriters intent.
The song “Evol” sees Lenker in line-to-line rhyme. The rhymes are clever and playful, and at the same time, the lyrical tone is distraught. The melody is comprised of piano and violin and the results are fabulous. Lenker’s vocals are delivered in a singsong fashion again, reminiscent to me, of “Real House.”
The lyrics in “Candleflame” explore a loving relationship. The melody consisting of acoustic guitar, piano and violin is soothing to the ear.
In the song, “Already Lost” Lenker employs a new refrain structure, repeating the second line which becomes the third line. Compared to her vocal deliveries on the rest of the album, these lines are delivered at a more frantic pace. Not to a chaotic level but the pacing paired with the repetition creates memorable earworms. This is the only song on Bright Future with a banjo and kudos to those that chose to use it. It fits here. So does the percussion and acoustic guit
“Cell Phone Says” is another song that only features Lenker. Its melody is basic in the best ways, just an acoustic guitar. And that all that is needed here. The lyrics become almost a dream-like state when paired with Lenker’s vocal delivery.
The lyrics within “Donut Seam” want to take advantage of the state of the world, at least one’s perspective of the world. The backing vocals of Davidson, Runsteen and Hakin provide a beautiful harmonious listening experience. The melody is acoustic guitar based and it allows all vocalists to shine.
The closing song “Ruined” is one that only features Lenker. Her melody is comprised of piano with crystal as well. The lyrics describe of an insatiable relationship and one’s feelings because of that.
Bright Future gets 4.5 out of 5 Scum Drops from me. It is an excellent album. Relative to 2024 releases this is definitely worthy of the 4.5 range (84th-95th percentile). We’ll see how the rest of the year shakes out and compare our subjective and objective notes, but at years end this album should be firmly in the lower part of the range. Kudos to Lenker and her songwriting, her vocals and the contributors she assembled and ended up working so well with. The album featured outstanding production choices. The album is worthy of adding to your collection in any format. Pick up a copy!
Bright Future Track listing (song length)
- Real House (5:59)
- Sadness As A Gift (4:19)
- Fool (2:55)
- No Machine (3:01)
- Free Treasure (3:36)
- Vampire Empire (3:55)
- Evol (4:14)
- Candleflame (2:35)
- Already Lost (3:28)
- Cell Phone Says (2:38)
- Donut Seam (2:26)
- Ruined (4:33)
Total runtime: 43:39
I’ll always advocate that you take the time to listen to every album in its entirety. This process is usually an hour or less from start to finish. Along the way, you’ll discover your own favorite songs without influence or bias of others. After a few listens on my own, the songs that are highlighted in green font above are my favorite songs on the album.
For more music, tour info and socials (click the contact tab) visit Adrianne’s site here!
Thank you for reading and supporting good music.
Until next time,
Alex
Scummy Water Tower Productions co-founder, reviewer, business manager, and editor. Thank you for visiting this site, scummywatertower.com, and YouTube for Water Tower Sessions and SWT Interviews. And all of our socials.
Questions, feedback, or more? Contact me: alex@scummywatertower.com
