yeah I'm still waiting for her to take an actual risk and do something divisive, closest she's come is the guest vocal on garden song. everything else is set up for a high metacritic score

Album Rating: 5.0

Agreed about BOCC

This is continuing to grow on me though. I'm still obsessed with the closer but it's forcing me to spend more time with the rest of the album and I don't think there's any Bridgers stuff that won't become endearing if you listen to it 30 times in 3 days lmao.

Album Rating: 5.0

Regarding her lack of risks, I generally agree - but just as Kiran said it's more of a "wish list" than a valid criticism of course. She's painting in a hue that speaks to her and there's nothing wrong with that.

Apparently parts of this album were inspired by The Black Parade, and even though I really only hear it on 'I Know The End', I would so embrace a full on epic rock opera from her - aggregate critic scores be damned. Would love to see her just totally let loose. To me, even at her best, she feels like she's holding something back for later and I don't know what it is yet (although we may have gotten a glimpse during this record's final two minutes).

Goddamn Sowing, review some albums again.

Album Rating: 5.0

It's been one week! ;-) Site is in good hands with such a promising crop of contribs.

Don't side step with complimentary quips Sow. I'll agree the site still has a strong writing force - but when you drop little "bits" like that comment above, I can't help but want it fulfilled in 500-700 words.

Album Rating: 2.0

I agree with waior; I AM saying her melodies are objectively weak lol

"even at her best, she feels like she's holding something back for later and I don't know what it is yet"

I think she'll build up to a norman fucking rockwell, the ultimate realization of her strengths. It's good that she isn't peaking early.

Album Rating: 4.0

For all of you who dig this, give Christian Lee Hutson’s new album Beginners a shot. He was on the Better Oblivion Tour, is credited alllll over this album and phoebe helped produce his album. It came out just a couple weeks back.



Spinning this and that on repeat today.

Album Rating: 4.0

"Her ability to turn a phrase, her gorgeous voice, and her sheer charm can justify a lot, but she needs more than those tricks in her bag to sustain what will hopefully be a long and fruitful career."



all comes back to this line in a very good review



girl already will have a long and fruitful career and neeka's rated it a 5 so she has the right amount of tricks for someone!!

Album Rating: 4.0

idk if anyone else was lucky enough to catch her on tour supporting Better Oblivion Community Center, but for those that weren't, Phoebe did a cover of Easy/Lucky/Free by Bright Eyes and it was absolutely jaw dropping. In the end Phoebe was screaming and the song absolutely erupted. I think this heavily inspired the explosive album ending on this one.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOcF3ma6uIg

Album Rating: 4.5

Jumping on the hype train. Potentially AOTY at the moment for me. Every song has its claws in me now, maybe with the exception of ICU. I think this is a logical progression for her. Even if a lot of it is studio trickery (which I'm not sure I agree with), it all really works for me. The closing duo is still my favorite, but I love Garden Song.

Also missed all of the comments on the previous pages, are they worth diving into?

Album Rating: 4.7 | Sound Off

Ugh not really

Album Rating: 4.7 | Sound Off

"girl already will have a long and fruitful career and neeka's rated it a 5 so she has the right amount of tricks for someone!!"

This is straight up everything that I love about music right here

Album Rating: 3.5

i think the counterpoints to my comments on the production tricks are all valid, and i had those thoughts while writing this. i guess what i mean is that i don't feel like every song here has a quality base from which to build. sometimes it's just boring indie. someone brought up age of adz which is a fine point but the songs on that record have SO much going on that i don't have those thoughts. put another way, there is nothing wrong with studio flourishes or even making entire songs from them (like age of adz), but if there are just a few of them in an otherwise middling song, then they are going to stand out as a negative.

Album Rating: 2.5

imo this album is emblematic of the sorta thing Chan is getting at. production/sound being more the focus than songwriting. some of these songs would be easily ignored if penned by a less relevant musician with less stylistic finesse. they do sound, at their core, like ok songs elevated in the studio



tbf there’s a couple songs here I like and will return to

Album Rating: 3.5

Yes, I think the production here is quite good, so I'm not so much saying that I don't like the flourishes as I'm saying that they are better than the actual songs in some cases

Album Rating: 4.0

personally the production and songs are part and parcel of the experience and I find the mood very cool and engrossing but yeah the songs could very well be lesser



I think if you put me in a chair at a Bridgers house concert, I’d like the songs the exact same but that isn’t happening anytime soon so all I got is the record and damn does this record have some cool toonaroonies. Jury’s out on songwriting for me but it’s good enough that I won’t notice for a while and maybe won’t ever care. She’s a great live performer and can arrest a whole room so when that time comes, I’ll also just be differently engaged by that so eh



I’m really happy

Closer is far and away the superior track here.

Album Rating: 4.0

weird way to spell Halloween