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Review Summary: This whole “music” thing is kinda good, isn’t it? I’ve rarely been fully enticed by live albums. My stance on the matter isn’t particularly interesting, simply an expression of the usual complaints about the format, which simultaneously lacks the more polished artistic vision of a studio record and the unbeatable sense of profound connection which an in-person viewing of a performance conveys.
With all that said, Adrianne Lenker seems like she should be able to pull off a live album better than most artists. The sometime frontwoman of Big Thief and sometime solo folkster has one of the finest oeuvres in modern indie under her belt, but her core appeal is rather straightforward - a wondrous voice and a hippy soul musing about love, sadness, and nature at a level which resonates much deeper than words. You’d expect something of that essence to come through well on a live album.
Live at Revolution Hall puts that hypothesis to the test. I’d say Lenker dipped her toe in here, given this is a release format she’s never before attempted, but in practice this is a full-on dive right into the deep end. Composed of forty-three tracks pulled from assorted performances on her 2024 tour, at varying levels of recording fidelity, this is around two hours of captivating and raw music. Within, you’ll find a whole range of solo Lenker and Big Thief tunes, with the tracklists of modern classics songs, Bright Future, and Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You healthily represented, alongside a sprawl of oddities from unreleased tracks to Robert Burns poetry readings to (beautiful) snippets of “I Will Always Love You”, and a whole lot of charming crowd interactions.
A bunch of these tracks are unbelievably beautiful - a dirge-like rendition of “Ruined” should pierce the most calloused heart, “Born For Loving You” is a breath of incredible sweetness in a cynicism-poisoned age, and “Sadness As A Gift” displays perfection in its portrayal of rustic melancholia, to name just a few. And then there’s “Anything” - the crowd singing along to Lenker’s ethereal delivery is transcendent and has given me chills every time I hear it. For all those jaw-dropping moments, though, there’s plenty of imperfections - indeed, they’re vital to the release’s identity, which comes across as a love letter to live music itself. Not every second feels essential on its own, but you’d be hard-pressed to find a better documentation of the glories of the art form - quiet acoustics, light-hearted jumps into and out of tunes, sudden bursts of feedback and ambient noise, and priceless moments of human-to-human interaction (“ I could be a sit-down comedian").
Live at Revolution Hall seems like an unlikely choice to become the default go-to Lenker album among fans, given its unwieldy scope and all-over-the-map presentation, but on a deeper level it feels definitive, buoyed by its free-wheeling spirit and otherworldly quality standard. A cursory glance at the tracklist is a stunning reminder of the number of top-notch tunes she’s penned to date, and to listen is to realize the depth of the ineffable magic with which she imbues gentle words and melodies to bring us all under her sway. I can’t tell you at what exact moment, but while listening to Live at Revolution Hall you may well be suddenly struck by that same primordial feeling our caveman ancestors presumably felt while singing around the fire, the terror of the surrounding darkness (and the rampaging mammoths) briefly held at bay by a moment of glorious tranquility. There’s just something pure about it. You’ll know it when you hear it.
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Album Rating: 4.3
I've listened to this three times in two days, which doesn't sound like much but kinda is since it's two hours long.
Anyway, I love it
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Oh shit! Gotta hear this.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
I got two tracks in and it sounded like it was recorded on someone's iphone...but I shalt now revisit!
| | | Album Rating: 4.3
LOL, yeah, some of this is Nattens Madrigal goes indie folk recording style, some is a bit more polished, but the first couple tracks probably don't do it justice.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
I'm pleased to hear...I gave this top listening spot but bailed for Viagra Boys, William Tyler and BRUIT (busy week) when looking at the terrifying run time and hearing that recording quality!
| | | Album Rating: 4.3
Curious to hear your thoughts - I can definitely see the raw and unruly whole of the album not quite working for some, but hard for me to imagine at least of few of these renditions won't get under your skin
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
I expect it to be very good, it was more wrong time wrong place, just wasn't up to the challenge
| | | Album Rating: 2.0
Absolutely love Big Thief but this is total shite. The rendition of Orange and a few others are pretty nice, but overall borderline unlistenable
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my partner was at this gig, and said it was a pretty special night. I haven’t been able to put it on yet due to feeling like I’m eavesdropping on her memories haha
dumb I guess, but that’s where we are rn
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
Gyro - that was the impression I was getting....we will see.
If the initial recording quality is across two hours that will be game over for me.
UPDATE: Just tried one of my faves 'Promise is a Pendulum' and I'm starting to get the approach, 'Ruined' is very nice here too.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
What I will say is I put up a list here of best contemporary era folk musicians that annoyed some people as it had bad people at the top (Kozelek) and I didn't put any lady folk in the top tier...well after another two or three years of output Lenker is now 100% in that top tier and personally she means a lot more to me (than the admittedly super proficient and interesting) Joanna Newsom.
This stuff though, it speaks to the heart and is more direct in that way.
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
Top three tiers of folk excellence since the start of the 90s:
Top tier since the start of the 90s: Adrianne Lenker, Elliott Smith, Mark Kozelek, Will Oldham, Bill Callahan, Richard Thompson, Jason Molina
Second tier since the start of the 90s: Mark Eitzel, Mark E Everett, Gavin Clark, Gillian Welch, Mark Linkous, Joanna Newsom, Sufjan Stevens, etc
Third tier since the start of the 90s: Mark Lanegan, Justin Venon, Liz Harris, King Creosote, Jackie Leven, Neko Case, Grant-Lee Phillips, Cat Power, etc
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
Finally completed this and apologies for taking over the thread. So, too many highlights for less than a 4 but also:
1. this is a lot.
2. some of the experimentation and lo fi presentation elevates, and some just breaks focus in a sub optimal way.
Some of the funny bits are good though, 'indiana & sneezing' is wtf, fair play to her all you can do is laugh
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
Interesting. I very much like Lenker’s music but wasn’t convinced a live recording would appeal based on some of the reasoning given in the (rather compelling) review, but now I’m intrigued. I’ll try and dip in and out of this, to begin with
I do have a small amount of concern her music may have already peaked for me (after listening to a ton of it last year), but we’ll see
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
This definitely has some transcendent moments.
The whole package is a love letter to those obsessed with her, and that's sweet, but part of me wishes the highlights had been condensed into a shorter length with the artiness present but refined a tiny bit.
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
it’s genuinely hard for me to imagine anything being more perfect than this. monumental release
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
I can’t wait to hear it. Adrianne is truly one of the greatest songwriters of the current day.
| | | Album Rating: 5.0
I listened to this 3 times in a single 6 hour session and still can't formulate a description for how good it is
| | | Album Rating: 4.5
About ten of the renditions here are incredible.
| | | Album Rating: 4.3
I was born for lovin' youuuuuuuuuu
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