★★★★⯪

After the success of her 2020 record, ‘Punisher’, it’s no understatement that Phoebe Bridgers has since become a defining voice of indie songwriting today. Her profound lyricism, both a site of comfort and torment, typed her as one of the ‘sad girl’ icons of the decade alongside her boygenius co-members Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker. But the extreme idolisation of musicians by their audience is not always an easy weight to bear; when, in 2023, the passing of her father became amplified by harassment from her fans on the way to his funeral, Phoebe Bridgers’ retreat from the public eye came as a necessary break to process the turning points in her life. “Let’s go missing” was the solution proposed on this new project. Now, with a sprawling sixteen-track album and a long list of collaborators, Phoebe Bridgers returns from hiatus with a sound that embraces both the quietude and chaos that come from metamorphic loss and love. 

‘The Outside’ introduces us to her new era of sound, where pensiveness arises in a blend of electronics and acoustics. Distorted through a vocoder, Bridger's voice conveys the self-detachment she felt following the death of her father. The entire track evokes a search for meaning, leaning on the spacey, cosmic characteristics of the album’s visuals, and marks an approach to loss that demands to be listened to rather than simply heard.

Central to ‘Lost Weekend’ is change and the passing of time. On‘Never Going Back!’, this can be a site for grief; the track builds to a catharsis punctuated by a euphoric whoop, and a voicemail from her dad that depicts growth and grief as two processes that are not necessarily mutually exclusive. 

There’s plenty of space on this record for Bridgers’ feathery vocals and weighty lyricism, as demonstrated in ‘Kill Me’ and ‘Other Plans’. The latter is the album’s most stripped-back track, explained as intended to be written around a single note, and it’s a song that will join the ranks of ‘Killer’ and ‘Moon Song’ as some of her most silently beautiful songwriting.

Equally though, Bridgers knows exactly when and how to pack an emotional punch through moments of maximalist production. Tracks like ‘Lost Boys’ and ‘Liberty Tree’ break from the album’s softer moments as vibrant highs riding on cheerful horns and twangy guitar. In ‘Bobby’, Bridgers segues from the ironic gallows humour of ‘The Governor’s Waltz’ into a powerhouse of a track that colours the rush of new love with full-bodied guitar and stirring vocals that confess, “This could be the end of wanting”.

 This is an album entrenched in the self; Bridgers’ intimate experiences and thoughts come alive in a self-contained soundscape that is wholly personal and untouchable. With all of its lyrical disclosures, we are simply strung along for the journey as confessions like “I’m supposed to be married, but I called it off” emerge as small epiphanies that drive the record’s emotional progression.

As Bridgers retraces her complicated relationship with her father, ‘Still Standing’ emits echoes of Sufjan Stevens’ ‘Carrie & Lowell’, as the track’s instrumentation ebbs and flows to make space for reflective pauses. This resurfaces in ‘As Above’, where the refrain “As above, so below” guides the track’s movement between large and small-scale images to express growing existentialism. Its ruminating piano riff and the culmination of Bridgers’ belting vocals cement it as one of the most haunting tracks on the album and a standout in her catalogue.

The record’s emotional core revolves around its titular tracks, both of which thoughtfully explore Bridgers’ feelings around grief and love. Where ‘Lost Weekend’ approaches affection and grief carefully, holding for pause between its sermonic instrumentals and intimate lyricism, ‘Lost Weekend (Reprise)’ meditates on these feelings amidst the funeral-service softness of the track’s organ. Despite being a reprise track, it does not opt for cyclicality, but rather ends the album with an air of hope: “You love me, and I won’t ever let you forget.” 

‘Lost Weekend’ is a record that searches for meaning through inherently destabilising experiences. It’s no easy feat to craft a tracklist so varied in sound and extensive in lyricism, but Phoebe Bridgers is well-versed by now, even if this is her most intimate album to date. With her experimental production and ever-evolving poetic songwriting, fans have had faith for years that the wait for new music would be worth every second, and it’s fair to say that she has exceeded all expectations. Now with a stadium tour on the horizon, it seems ‘Lost Weekend’ has even more to show for itself, and her audience will be standing by in the meantime.

Liesel Bradbury

@lieselbwrites / @lieselinthealps

Image: ‘Lost Weekend’ Official Album Cover