Phoebe Bridgers finds more candour and heartbreak in one line on Punisher than most find in an entire album. “I used to light you up, but now I can’t even get you to play the drums,” she sings on I See You – a powerful breakup song which she wrote with ex-partner and band member Marshall Vore while their relationship was disintegrating.
It captures the beauty and immense sadness that coexist on Bridgers’ second album, packed with confessional lyrics and wry, expressive songwriting.
The 25-year-old sings most of Punisher in a near-whisper, performing as if she’s afraid to wake a sleeping loved one. Tracks like Garden Song show off Bridgers’ folk roots and evident Elliott Smith inspiration, while the restrained Halloween is coated in a crepuscular atmosphere.
Things get loud on I Know the End – a track that builds and builds with brass and string swells, Bridgers’ usually restrained delivery giving way to the kind of screams that tear vocal cords.
It often feels like a solemn record, but there are beautiful, unambiguous flashes of affection and hope.
“You know I’d stand on a corner embarrassed with a picket sign / if it meant I would see you when I die,” she sings, contemplating religious evangelicalism on Chinese Satellite. The album is studded with these gem-like lines and you’d imagine Bridgers has a great novel or a beautifully written memoir in her locker. For now, though, we’re happy with profound, soul-baring albums like this one.
