Earlier this year, Adrianne Lenker released her beloved new album Bright Future via 4AD. Hailed as ‘a raw gem’ by Rolling Stone, Bright Future has won over the hearts of fans and critics alike, garnering high praise from Pitchfork, DIY, NME, Uncut, The New York Times, MOJO, and many more.
The beating heart of the album, ‘Evol’ studies love in a mirror, as Lenker’s exquisite wordplay stands firmly in the rich tradition of folk music. Words are reversed as meaning appears and goes out of frame. Love becomes evol (evil), teach cheat, part trap. Voices and violin weightlessly repeat Adrianne’s summiting melody as she accepts what she sees; “The giver takes // The taker gives.”
The video, directed by Erin Birgy (Mega Bog) and starring Lenker, Birgy, Adel Bengo, Rob Savage, Drew Miller, James Krivchenia, Flora Branch Ortiz Concha, Johnny Ortiz, Maida Branch, Natalie Day, and Claire Iannelli, is “a portrait of a wandering person, unrooted and questioning the realities of connection,” explains Birgy. This wandering figure is on the verge of outgrowing stoic individualism encouraged by colonialism that fights to deny interconnectedness of egoless place and being.”
“The film plays with magical realism to give symbol to alien, and often haunting, shifts of perception while finding one’s role in a meaningful community/ecosystem that was ever present, and often overlooked or habitually dismissed in western thought,” Birgy elaborates. “We had an amazing team of desert rats, farmers, artists, horses, and aliens to make this film. It was so special to collaborate with Adrianne & some of my closest friends in this extra-musical storytelling project.”
Adrianne Lenker – ‘Evol’
Official Video Directed by Erin Birgy
Bright Future marks Lenker’s first album since 2020’s songs & instrumentals, and features co-production from Philip Weinrobe, alongside contributions from Nick Hakim, Mat Davidson, and Josefin Runsteen. During the high vibrance of autumn, 2022, the Big Thief band member got lucky. Three musical friends, “Some of my favourite people,” had space in their busy touring schedules to join her at the forest-hidden, analogue studio, Double Infinity. The musicians – Hakim, Davidson, and Runsteen – were known to Adrianne but newer to each other. “I had no idea what the outcome would be,” she recalls. The result? “It was magical,” she says.
Adrianne’s musical risk became Bright Future, the studio’s first album, a 12-track telling of a journeyed heart. There are details to savour, fingertips on strings, felt pads nodding in the piano, the harmonies a few steps back, all smoothly laid to tape. It comes together to allow these songs to be as they are, unarmoured and light-footed, creating ‘a thing of wonder, spare and spacious, its vocals close, its lyrics hitting you straight in the heart’ (The Sunday Times).
On Saturday 8 June, Adrianne’s appearance on Later… with Jools Holland performing ‘Sadness As A Gift’ was aired on BBC Two. Watch back the magical performance HERE.
Praise for Adrianne Lenker:
“One of this generation’s most potent songwriters.” – NME
“Heir to Dylan.” – The Sunday Times
“Lenker is a treasure for the ages.” – The Spectator
“An early contender for album of the year.” – The Sunday Times
“Whether she’s making 90s-indebted country strummers, traditional folk, Blake Mills-style song paintings, or haunted parlour music, Lenker sounds undeniably like herself on Bright Future.” – Crack
“A collection of stunning, open-hearted songs.” – Uncut, 9/10
“Lenker’s best work.” – MOJO ****
“Timeless… unvarnished but poetic personal snapshots in earthy, country-tinged song.”
– The Times ****
Her Dylan-esque knack of taking the mundane and turning it into poetry feels as formidable as ever.” – Record Collector ****
***** The Skinny | ***** NARC | ****½ Far Out | ****½ Our Culture | ****½ MusicOMH |
**** The Independent | **** NME | ****DIY | **** Dork | **** The List
ADRIANNE LENKER ONLINE:
adriannelenker.com
Instagram: @adriannelenker
Facebook: @adriannelenkermusic
Twitter: @AdrianneLenker
