Album of the Week

Phoebe Bridgers’ second album Punisher

Okay you guys, this is happening. And I’m sticking to it (mark my words hehe)! I love hearing music recommendations from others, but also the sentimental empath in me loves looking back on what albums were really resonating with me in a certain time period.

And oh man, does this quarantine send me on a freaking roller coaster of emotions. Thankfully this week has been pretty good, besides totally questioning myself as an artist and realizing how challenging it is to be able to know and state our worth as artists and having that be wrapped up in our being…. I’m doing totally fine.

With all that in mind, it made listening to Phoebe Bridgers second album Punisher all the more meaningful. The way PB writes her songs…. woah. You can feel every deep emotions she is feeling as she so eloquently puts it into words while holding nothing back. This album has a deep sense of metaphor in a lot of her lyrics. I also sense some angsty punk (which is why we all love her in the first place), but she’s also exploring something a bit more country (it feels early Taylor Swift to me in her song Graceland Too). Phoebes’ voice is soothing to my soul, and I’m not sure how else to put it. She is totally raw and authentic as to who she is, and I absolutely adore her for that.

Here are some of her incredibly compelling lyrics for Chinese Satellite:

I've been running around in circles
Pretending to be myself
Why would somebody do this on purpose
When they could do something else?
Drowning out the morning birds
With the same three songs over and over
I wish I wrote it, but I didn't so I learn the words
Hum along 'til the feeling's gone forever

Took a tour to see the stars
But they weren't out tonight
So I wished hard on a Chinese satellite
I want to believe
Instead I look at the sky and I feel nothing
You know I hate to be alone
I want to be wrong

You were screaming at the Evangelicals
They were screaming right back from what I remember
When you said I will never be your vegetable
Because I think when you're gone it's forever
But you know I'd stand on the corner
Embarrassed with a picket sign
If it meant I would see you
When I die

Sometimes when I can't sleep
It's just a matter of time before I'm hearing things
Swore I could feel you through the walls
But that's impossible
I want to believe
That if I go outside I'll see a tractor beam
Coming to take me to where I'm from
I want to go home

A lyric from the song Punisher

Her song’s feel painful, but true. And mixed with her singing voice and the accompaniment, I appreciate her artsy. Throughout her entire album, I can feel a sense of deep, but new, love. And *oof*, the song to round out the album I Know The End, is so beautifully painful with feelings about her hometown. The transition with the violin and the up pace in tempo two and half minutes is the type of high I get from listening to music. If you are going to listen to any song, listen to that one.

Sending love. xx