CD of The Week

It has been six long years since the peak-pandemic release of Phoebe Bridgers' Punisher, an album that looms large in defining the sonic and personality characteristics of American indie in the 2020s. Bridgers is far from the only artist to present confessional lyrics at a low volume, but her music sounds distinctive because of the intensity of her imagery, her tendency to deploy odd instruments in unexpected ways, and the hushed, lovely tone of most of her vocals (except of course, when she needs to scream). Since Punisher, Bridgers has continued to ascend due to both musical collaborations (Boygenius) and tabloid relationships (she dated Academy Award nominee/heartthrob Paul Mescal for two years), and a rabid, parasocial fan base now exists that follows Bridgers almost as closely as the Delaware Valley will follow LeBron once the NBA season tips off. If the stakes for Bridgers' third full-length, Lost Weekend, feel high, Bridgers is well aware. This is an ambitious, versatile album with many listed collaborators and even more musical ideas. Impressively, the content within largely pulls off the highwire act of meeting the inflated hype.

This is simplifying things somewhat, but Bridgers largely deals with two lyrical themes on Lost Weekend. The first is the grief over the loss of her estranged father as the album opens on a scene of his funeral, sung through a vocoder on the spooky "The Outside," and later features a real voicemail from him in "Never Going Back!" Yet, the culmination of Bridgers' reflections is on the devastating "Still Standing," where she reflects "sometimes I want you back / but not today" after remembering a moment of abuse.

On the other hand, the album frequently engages with the thrills and comfort of a loving relationship, with several songs being about and co-written by Bridgers' current partner, comedian Bo Burnham. "Bobby" takes great pleasure in the mundanities of sharing a domestic life with someone and has the album's funniest line about there being "a thing in a box I don't touch anymore" now that she's found love. Meanwhile, "Liberty Tree" is another sweet song about Burnham and Bridgers connecting through playful mischief at the titular mall.

Expressions of comfort are new from Bridgers, but that doesn't mean that the album is complacent in any way. The production and arrangements are considerably stranger than her first two records, but in mostly successful ways. The gradual shift from a piano-based lilting melody into an eerie soundscape on "The Governor's Waltz" is thrilling, while album highlight "I Can't Wait" features a bluegrass interlude from members of Nickel Creek and reverb-soaked harmonies with Cameron Winter of Geese. The greater variety of tones and instruments adds intrigue throughout the album.

One aspect of Lost Weekend that might be controversial is its sequencing, as most of the first half of the record is straightforward, full-length songs with a back half that largely consists of brief song fragments, instrumentals, and reprises. This is a bold move that doesn't always work, as there is a bit of a comedown after the strong six-song block that opens the album. Lost Weekend might be a better listen if some of the 16 tracks were excised or re-ordered.

Lost Weekend may arrive with plenty of expectations, but Bridgers eschews the expected at almost every turn. The album is clearly from the same brilliant, heady voice as Stranger in the Alps and Punisher but has a different feel and a wider scope than those era-defining albums. Not every element or song works, but it's heartening that an artist as big as Phoebe Bridgers is still insistent on breaking new ground.

Phoebe Bridgers is headlining a sold-out, phone-free show with hometown hero/collaborator Alex G at Xfinity Mobile Arena on Monday, September 28th.