Phoebe Bridgers' first solo album in six years, Lost Weekend, is a thrilling and daring study in emotional turmoil, deploying electronics and unsettling sound design to brilliant effect. The album, released on 14 August, follows a period of immense commercial success for Bridgers, including three Grammy wins with Boygenius and another for her collaboration with SZA.
Commercial triumphs and personal turmoil
The last time Bridgers released a solo album was in 2020, when Punisher topped critics' lists, made the UK Top 10, and sold half a million copies in the US. Since then, Boygenius, her band with Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker, became a mainstream phenomenon, winning three Grammys for The Record. Bridgers also won a Grammy for Ghost in the Machine with SZA, making her the night's biggest winner at the 2024 ceremony. She has collaborated with Taylor Swift, Lorde, and Paul McCartney.
However, the opening track, The Outside, suggests all was not well. It depicts Bridgers crowd-surfing at a gig in Ohio, but with a sense of dislocation heightened by a vocoder and ambient static. The album's lyrics explore emotional turmoil, largely stemming from the death of her father and the collapse of her engagement to actor Paul Mescal.
A distinctive soundscape
Lost Weekend's sound is as individual as its lyrics. While rooted in Americana-infused indie singer-songwriter territory, with contributions from Jack Antonoff, Boygenius bandmates, Jon Brion, Alex G, and Conor Oberst, the album is marked by extensive sound design. Droning electronics, feedback, and eerie wordless vocals often overwhelm the traditional instruments, creating a disorientating and thrilling effect.
Songs plunge into silence, are drenched in dreamlike echo, or feature unexpected codas. Kill Me's closing desire to vanish is far more aggressive than the rest of the song, while the title track explodes into euphoria. Panorama nearly buries a beautiful melody under discordant murk.
A rich and rewarding journey
The result is a heady, potent, occasionally wrenching album, flecked with optimism. Never Going Back! repeats the line "the way it used to be is not the way it is" over a charging indie-rock backing. As Above looks ahead to romance fading into familiarity with a positive spin: "You're gonna take me for granted but I can handle it."
"The past is looking brighter all the time," sings Bridgers on Liberty Tree. The path to that point has evidently been trying, but Lost Weekend transforms it into a rich and rewarding journey.
