How is it possible that you are only 22 years old and you are such a poetaster? How is it possible that this is just your debut and you are already proving to be a versatile artist? How is it possible that your dismal verses make me feel big emotions? I am talking to you, Phoebe Bridgers. Let me tell you something - Strangers in The Alps blew my mind. And it's the blow I am more than willing to share with everyone who reads my kurrent blog.
The brilliance of Phoebe's debut might have something to do with the fact that she has degree in arts, or maybe it's due to being mentored by Ryan Adams. Better yet, maybe she was just overdosing on indie folk artists such as Sun Kill Moon and Iron & Wine. If we take a listen to You Missed My Heart, a cover of Mark Kozalek's morbid ballad, her influences become conspicuous. Nonetheless, what she pulls off throughout her debut enables me to claim that she is going to be the most authentic indie folk singer in the years to come. Mark my words. Since the whole album revolves around authenticity, identity, depression and alienation, you immediately get the idea that she is a representative of millennials. Further evidence is her album cover that consciously presents symbols of contemporary zeitgeist: a rainbow, a ghost and a dog.
Now that I have glorified Strangers in the Alps (did I mention that this is a reference to cult movie The Big Lebowski), let me spare you further apotheosis and objectively dissect its essential songs.
Let's start off with Smoke Signals, which serves as the first single.
I went with you up toThe place you grew up inWe spent a week in the coldJust long enough to"Walden" it with youAny longer, it would have got oldSinging "Ace of Spades" when Lemmy diedBut nothing's changed, L.A.'s all rightSleeping in my bed again, and getting in my headAnd then walk around the reservoir
David Bowie and Lemmy would be so proud of her, and they didn't even know her. You get the core of Phoebe here: ethereal vocal, incredibly touching falsetto, edgy lyrics and slightly morbid sensuality. Her indie folk and indie pop tendencies are fascinatingly elevated to the next level with her songwriting skills. Just take a look at few verses from Funeral, a song that embodies the melancholic spirit of the whole record through visualization of a funeral.
I'm singing at a funeral tomorrowFor a kid a year older than meAnd I've been talking to his dad; it makes me so sadWhen I think too much about it I can't breathe
And last night I blacked out in my carAnd I woke up in my childhood bedWishing I was someone else, feeling sorry for myselfWhen I remembered someone's kid is dead
Motion Sickness, or as I like to call it - indie song of the year, delivers more idiosyncratic punchlines and shows how tangible yet powerful Phoebe's voice is. Her lyrical game is still spot on here.Conor Oberst guests on Would You Rather and makes every fan of indie folk music have a tiny orgasm. The only song that provides some traces of full optimism is Demi Moore in which Phoebe talks about sending nudes.
I hope these small portions of Phoebe Bridgers’ lyrics have convinced you to stream her album as soon as you finish reading this review. Which is now. Go stream the debut of the year!
