Adrianne Lenker’s future is bright

Adrianne Lenker met Buck Meek in Boston while they were both undergraduates at Berklee College of Music. There they began performing as a duo, one that has fluctuated from a band, to a marriage and now a deep friendship.

In 2015, they formed the band Big Thief with fellow students. Lenker, however, is recognized as the primary lyricist and “mastermind” of the group.

Big Thief’s fifth studio album, “Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You,” was released in February of 2022 and followed by a critically acclaimed successful tour through the United States, Europe and the United Kingdom.

Lenker, Meek and Big Thief are all signed under the record label 4AD, which came to popularity signing Cocteau Twins, The Pixies, Lush and whose roster currently includes Bon Iver, Iron and Wine and about a hundred more artists.

“Bright Future” is the artist’s sixth solo studio album, released March 22, 2024. Lenker has steadily gained popularity over the last few years, with her most popular song being “anything,” a tender ballad from her 2020 album “songs.”

Her unique writing style is characterized by satisfyingly consecutive rhyme and alliteration, so seemingly effortless that you wonder if she always speaks that way. This is seen throughout her entire catalog in both Big Thief and individual work, a good example being the song “Ingydar” from “songs” (2020) and lyrics like “You are as far from me as memory / with fixtures fracture varyingly.”

There is a ring of truth to everything she says, with Bright Future discussing concepts of loss, trauma, regret, memory, and the past and future. As a complete work, the album argues for the necessary persistence of joy throughout life and the importance of finding value in saddening past experiences.

The album opens with Lenker reflecting on childhood memories as her current self. Addressing her mother, she repeatedly asks “do you remember,” her voice raw and accompanied only by occasional quiet piano chords, her vulnerability shining.

The first single, “Ruined,” released December 5, 2023, is a poignant ballad whose dramatic piano and wistful violin blend with Lenker’s angelic vocal style crescendo to create a catharsis of epic loss, which certainly leaves the listener feeling shattered, ruined even. 

“Sadness As A Gift,” released January 17, 2024 as the second single, features lyrics about finding the virtues in grief. The track could act to rectify the sadness felt from “Ruin,” highlighting the importance of allowing yourself to feel pain.

This is a motif seen throughout the album: the idea of hope or an optimistic outlook in the face of emotional hardship or when reflecting on the past. This is seen in “Sadness As A Gift” and the penultimate track “Donut Seam” whose chorus features the lyrics, “This whole world is dying / Don’t it seem like a good time for swimming / before all the water disappears?”

“Fool,”  the third single, serves to remind the listener of the often overlooked joys of life. You can almost hear the smile in her voice as she sings the catchy, light-hearted tune. “Free Treasure,” the fourth, is a heartfelt ode to deep human connection and the beauty of unconditional love between two people.

Fluctuating between devastating heartbreak and pure joyous serenity, the tracklist mimics the reality of emotional human experience.

The album is incredibly touching; listening to it is as if Lenker is putting her hand on your shoulder and kindly assuring you in her beautiful soft voice that everything will be alight, something everyone needs to hear sometimes.

Adrianne Lenker is currently on tour and set to play at the Paramount theater in Seattle on June 22. 

If you are already a fan of Big Thief and Adrianne Lenker, you will love the album “Bright Future.” However, as a new listener, a better place to start off would be her album “songs” or Big Thief’s well-named album “Masterpiece” (2016).