Phoebe Bridgers — Punisher (6/18/20)
I’ve been vaguely aware of Phoebe Bridgers since around the time of her 2017 full-length debut. I intended to listen to her album with Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes) as Better Oblivion Community Center, and I was aware of her work with Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus as boygenius, but I never did get around to them.
She’s been rising in popularity and, after hearing some of her wonderful features on the latest album from The 1975, I was eager to dive into her sophomore solo release.
Side A of the album holds some of the best songs I’ve heard this year. She’s able to create these incredibly touching musical environments with her blunt lyricism and heart-tugging melodies.
“Garden Song” has her paired with her deep-voiced Dutch tour manager by the name of Jeroen. She says he sounds like the “Dutch Matt Berninger from The National,” and she’s completely on point. It’s a look at recurring nightmares she has on tour but also a bit of a manifestation for the life she dreams of.
This album has encouraged me to check out Elliott Smith. Apparently, he’s Bridgers’ favourite artist, and the title track is pretty much inspired by the sometimes overbearing love one has for their favourite artist.
“What if I told you/I feel like I know you?/But we never met/It’s for the best.”
According to Urban Dictionary, a punisher is someone who talks excessively about a subject that no one listening cares about. So, a superfan who corners their favourite artist outside the tour bus after a show could be considered a punisher if that artist wants nothing more than to get away from the crowd.
With little more than strings and soft keys, it’s a gorgeous example of when less is more. The instrumentals fade briefly as it leads into the chorus and as they quickly warm up again it makes for an almost gutting feeling of emotion. Bridgers wrote some lines on this album that just cut to the bone, and we get one of my favourite lyrics on this song with, “I love a good place to hide in plain sight.”
“Halloween” was my original favourite. It’s loosely about a dead relationship that she’s trying to bring some life to. Her breathy, whispery vocals sound fit for the Halloween theme with this ghostly kind of feeling. She has an amazing way of creating a mood that can keep you on the edge of tears the whole time.
“Baby, it’s Halloween/And we can be anything.”
The instrumentation sets more of an atmosphere than actually leading the song. Bridgers’ vocals are the path I always find myself following and the lyrics keep my attention more than most. Conor Oberst contributes vocals in the outro and he also suggested the lyrics for the last verse. It’s one of the stand-out examples of some of the cutting lyrics on this album when she refers to the death of a fan at Dodgers Stadium: “They killed a fan down by the stadium/Was only visiting, they beat him to death.”
“Chinese Satellite” expresses a feeling I’m sure we’ve all had. She sings about her hopes of there being something more than this world.
“I want to believe/Instead, I look at the sky and I feel nothing.”
There’s a fuller instrumental surrounding to the song and while it’s not my overall favourite, it has some of the most powerful fist-clenching moments with its swelling strings and a stronger drum beat. Easily one of the most emotionally impactful passages of the album is from the 2:20 mark to the song’s close.
Songs seven-through-ten land a little less hard for me but I still appreciate the beautiful sadness of it all.
“Moon Song” hardly holds a chorus but her hyper-specific lyrics about a relationship have a way of keeping you clinging to every word. “Savior Complex” is wonderfully dreamy and slow but just doesn’t grip me the way many of these do.
“I See You” has more instrumental activity to it compared to the average on this album. It’s about the breakup she went through with her drummer, who she’s since mended fences with. Again, it’s not the most emotionally fulfilling for me but I’m always pulled in with the third verse near the 1:45 mark.
Bridgers’ gets her boygenius members in Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker to join her on “Graceland Too.” It’s the most country-leaning song of the album, complete with fiddle performed by Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek. She initially began writing it about an MDMA trip but it turned into a reflection on trying to be there for people with a self-destructive past. It’s lovely but doesn’t venture into territory that manages to cut into me.
Closer “I Know The End” doesn’t get much excitement out of me during its first half but near the 2:30 mark a soft hi-hat click is added and the album begins the climb towards its final moments. It builds to a climactic finale as the drums begin to crash, horns rise, and Bridgers even lets out a near-metal scream.
If you’re a fan of the album and you’ve made it this far, then you’ve surely noticed I haven’t mentioned one of the songs, and that would be “Kyoto.”
The upbeat single is an absolutely exceptional piece of music and will very likely be in my top 10 songs of the year. A huge part of the song’s brilliance is in its drumbeat. The snare in the chorus moves back and forth between hitting on the 1,3, and 4 beats and hitting the conventional 2 and 4 beats. It makes for a phenomenal change of pace as it tightens before opening into a tremendous amount of musical feeling.
