Return to rusticism: the plucky soundscape of Adrianne Lenker’s "Bright Future"

Graphic by Julia Norkus

By Brooke Huffman

Bright Feature, folk singer and songwriter Adrianne Lenker’s sixth full-length album, hovered down from heaven last Friday. That sentence contains not an ounce of hyperbole: Lenker possesses a rare knack for producing sonically ethereal tunes. Composing these little ditties that are capable of simultaneously comforting and consuming the listener in a carnivorous manner.

 She does so right from the jump: “Real House” is first introduced with a piano smothered in soft sweetness, little nuggets of background noise that tease intimacy. She paints a picture of childhood wonder complete with loveliness, Lenker pleads to return to her naive beginnings, all while learning to experience genuine grief. This narrative heavy track features minimal instrumentation, a collage of pained crooning and plunking piano keys. It is impossible to walk away without sharing her sense of loss, crying along with Lenker, and her family, and their dying dog.

The second song, “Sadness as a Gift,” strikes at the essence of the album: optimism buried in the bleak, budding moments of bliss. If the tracks were arranged differently this would’ve served as a stellar closer, hinting at a retrospective take on the relationship in songs like “No Machine” or “Free Treasure.”

Though Lenker and her lover can “see into the same eternity,” contention exists at the core of their relationship. Rather than mourn the loss of a potentially perfect partner and a future built on a foundation of fantasies, she motions to see the grief as part of something greater, a sign that a powerful connection did occur, and isn’t that something worth celebrating? Essentially, Lenker is breathing an air of authenticity into a worn-out platitude (don’t be sad it’s over, be happy it happened!) with her array of folksy strings and duetting guitars. Yet even then she leaves us just shy of closure, shutting the door but leaving it unlocked, inviting her ex-lover to write to her one day, even encouraging it.

This leads us to “Fool,” the second single to make an appearance (after “Sadness is a Gift”), which radiates rays of hope, blanketing the listener in that pure feeling of letting infatuation infect after a love drought. If I had to describe it in one word— plucky. Given a few more I’d mention the groovy electric guitar solo featured near the end, or the epilogue-esque flashes of characters’ fates rolling through like the credits of a movie, interspersed with pleas and promises of passion.

Though chock with conflicting ideas (a track exalting “love without measure” falls right before one in which Lenker walking into her lover’s dagger “for the last time in a row”), Bright Future feels incredibly cohesive. The songs are pieces of the same puzzle, simply shuffled up from being shaken in the box. “No Machine” becomes “Vampire Empire” when passion smacks into a sheet of ice, snuffed out and starved. “Candleflame” and “Real House” are both odes to love, simply different ilks. “Donut Seam” feels like a sister to “Sadness as a Gift,” a surprisingly content look back on a relationship, heavy with closure, and featuring the delightfully whispy vocals of Nick Hakim.

“Evol” is without a doubt the weakest link, its premise resting on a word game not worthy of the New York Times. Various liberties are taken within the verses (What do you mean teach is cheat backwards?), which could be overlooked if the song was not such a drastic dip from the rest of her material. Though a mournful plea— “return my heart! undo thy hurt!”— fits well in the canon of Lenker laments,  this track does not deserve the over four minutes that it takes up. 

Despite the latter half of the album lacking the momentum and sheer sonic strength of the first, Bright Future demands (and deserves) a space in the indie folk renaissance we’re inhabiting. It’s finally cool to be a cowboy again, no longer stained with associations of commercialized country hacks, and it’s obvious that Lenker is the cunty queer cowhand to really drive that idea home.