Adrianne Lenker’s most recent release, Big Future, is a saddening but comforting listen that touches your heart and amazes you.
Adrianne Lenker’s career in music originally started back in 2006 when they released their first album, titled Stage of The Sun. Since then, they have released around five albums and multiple EPs along with multiple other releases from the band Big Thief that they are a part of. Their latest release, Big Future, is an amazing, thought-provoking album that I think everyone should listen to.
The album, characterized by acoustic guitar and Lenker’s raw vocals, creates an intimate musical experience that truly adds to the music’s comforting and relaxed atmosphere. The album consists of 12 tracks and runs for about 43 minutes.
“Sadness as a Gift”
“Sadness as a Gift,” the second track on the album, is a comfy, rustic-sounding guitar with Nick Hakim, Mat Davidson, and Runsteen on backing vocals and instrumentals for the track. The song’s topic of lost love is sad, but it’s a comforting sadness.
“Vampire Empire”
Additionally, in her new album, Lenker adds a rendition of her band’s song “Vampire Empire.” In Lenker’s version, they take a strong, acoustic route with a presence of folk and beautiful raw vocals. Lenker speaks on the song’s meaning, saying, “For me, it’s about getting out of toxic internal patterns – leaving the empire of energy drains that obscure pure essence, learning about what healthy boundaries are, and finding the power to implement them for the possibility of giving and receiving (both inwardly and outwardly) unbroken and infinite Love.”
For me, it’s about getting out of toxic internal patterns – leaving the empire of energy drains that obscure pure essence, learning about what healthy boundaries are, and finding the power to implement them for the possibility of giving and receiving (both inwardly and outwardly) unbroken and infinite Love.
— Adrianne Lenker
“Cell Phone Says”
“Cell Phone Says” is one of Lenker’s more simple songs on the album, in terms of instrumentals and structure. The song is comprised of Lenker’s naked vocals and an acoustic guitar. The song itself seems to be about being on the other side of a phone call with a bad signal. While the meaning isn’t fully clear, it could be about trying to maintain a connection through the phone despite being so far apart from whoever is on the other end, or it could be about receiving bad news. I found the simplicity in this song pretty, and I love how it spotlighted their vocals.
“Ruined”
The final track in the album, “Ruined,” is a saddening song about a relationship Lenker was very devoted to and how “sunk” into it they were. During the song, Lenker thinks back on the relationship that meant so much to her and how they could never get any answers from their past lover. The song is soft with piano in the background; it sounds tender and mournful, almost. In the end, after singing of the lover that they could not get enough of, they circle back as they normally do in their songs to end with how through everything that has happened, they will continue to admire everything.
Bright Future is a heart-touching and comforting album that Adrianne Lenker did an amazing job on. The album is lyrically beautiful and represents, in a way, staying soft, kind, and open in the awful world that we live in.
