Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher

Hey music heads! Here is today’s review (just realized TND posted right before me):

Phoebe Bridgers is an indie/folk rock singer-songwriter who is known from the music groups Boygenius and Better Oblivion Community Center. After three years since her debut solo project, Bridgers releases her sophomore album Punisher. Despite being so young and only in the music scene for around six years now, Bridgers has garnered critical acclaim for her intelligence and openness in her music. Anything she creates basically becomes an indie classic immediately, and I think she accomplishes that on Punisher, too. After the ominous intro track, Garden Song has a harp-like playing of a string instrument accompanying Bridgers’ remarkable singing that has a very low bass singer harmonizing to her. This is my track-by-track breakdown:

- Kyoto – A feel-good song with much layering of instruments that glorify her seemingly petty lyrics about her love. There is some description of Japan at the beginning, connecting to the title.

- Punisher – The title track contains very spacy production along with some unsatisfying melodies. She ends many lines on a slightly unfitting musical note, which I found a bit annoying. The lyrics at least describe an interesting phenomenon Bridgers names the punisher. Essentially, you become a punisher when you are void of interest when talking to someone, but you stay to for the sake of pleasing them.

- Halloween – Subtly disorganized string instrumental for a song about fantasizing becoming anything one may want on Halloween. “We can be anything.” She also touches on a fan who was beaten up outside a stadium. On the other hand, Bridgers is urging a guy that she likes to celebrate Halloween with her during the choruses.

- Chinese Satellite – Very grand orchestral instrumentation combined with spacy and lightly psychedelic production. Bridgers matches the grandiosity with her singing and slight voice augmentation on her harmonizing voices. The lyrics are about Bridgers believing that she would lose her love forever if he left. She talks about making a wish on a Chinese satellite (whatever that is).

- Moon Song – “You couldn’t have, you couldn’t have / Stuck your tongue down the throat of somebody who loves you more.” The imagery this line evokes and how it fits into the context of the song is so well executed. She sings about a seemingly unattainable crush that still has her heart.

- ICU – I love the “crescendoing,” stammering guitars introducing this track. Bridgers talks about her love experience more coherently and criticizes her boyfriend’s mother’s ignorance.

- Graceland Too – This track contains a more folky instrumental, again, that is made spacier with production. Bridgers talks about a female significant other that she would do anything for and their experiences together.

- I Know the End – A 6-minute song that is extremely fitting for such a splendid album. The ending feels so phenomenally monumental and passionate with the repeating of “the end is here” and the screaming. It is so good.

Punisher is an awe-inspiring journey into Bridgers’ world of glorifying small issues as more serious problems are occurring around her. Bridgers delivers her ideas very well and very few elements of her music are flawed. I personally can only criticize a single song of hers, and the rest I either love or can definitely see why others would. What I love most about Bridgers is that her grandiosity is not forced like many of her contemporaries or many current artists. The production is beautiful, her voice is beautiful, and her sentiments are beautiful. I love the cover art, too.

Favorite tracks: Kyoto, Chinese Satellite, and I Know the End

Least favorites: Punisher

Great Album: 8.3