Album Rating: 3.7

Halloween is excruciatingly boring

Album Rating: 5.0

For whatever reason Halloween resonates with me; I realize the same arguments I levied against Garden Song could be applied there though.

Album Rating: 4.0

DVD Menu could be cut, and Garden Song could be shortened into a little 1:30-2:00 intro. That would work well I think.



and I don't mind the ending of Satellite, I feel like the aggressive guitars sort of reflect her state of mind and also give the song a good sense of energy/climax

Album Rating: 5.0

All of Chinese Satellite is sheer perfection, it'd be the best song of hers if I Know The End didn't exist.

Album Rating: 4.5

the ending to Chinese Satellite is great wth

Just relistened to Chinese Satellite and agreed with Chan (other than MCR blasphemy); first half is on point, the second loses it - that climax feels phoned in as hell and overly bright in its melodies. Made the mistake of reading the lyrics - kinda a case study of the wishywashy vague-sad unconvincingness people were talk about like infinity pages back

Album Rating: 3.5

Three cheers is a great record but they didn't know how to end a lot of those songs so they just sort of turn into sloppy guitar stabbing and shit. That's what Chinese Satellite does too. Feels like she didn't know how to end it so it just collapses in a way that doesn't work for me

Album Rating: 3.5

I like Kyoto, t/t, and Chinese Satellite the most for sure

Chinese Satellite is so boring

I'm trying and failing to remember how a single song on Three Cheers ends, so you're probably right lol
If we're singling out songs with messy endings, I feel the t/t is a really crass cutoff and has enough atmosphere that it could have gotten away with a graceful fade-out

Album Rating: 4.0

Worst ending is by far the last 10 seconds of I Know The End. You can't do a super serious, dramatic song like that where you literally scream and then laugh at the end of it without it kinda just ruining the whole idea. It's like she couldn't fully commit to the screaming bit so she ends it with a "lol jk"

Lol. I feel that "lol jk" is kinda her vibe, for better or worse - can't think of a single Phoebe lyric that isn't emotional in a tentative/non-committal way (sometimes with unspoken depth, sometimes quite superficial, sometimes self-deprecating). Would be interested to hear what someone more invested in her lyrics makes of this

Album Rating: 5.0

I haven't gone over her lyrics on Stranger In The Alps enough to speak much to that, but what Jotw said sounds about right for this album at least. I Know The End is my front runner for SOTY.

Album Rating: 4.5

interesting, i feel generally positively about the end of chinese satellite

Album Rating: 5.0

Yeah without the uptick in energy I feel like it'd blend too much into the other songs here.

Album Rating: 4.0

Idk if I agree with that Johnny, I think a lot of her lyrics are emotionally committal, like Funeral for example. She has mixed results with it though, sometimes it's powerful, other times it's just bad ("Jesus Christ, I'm so blue all the time, and that's just how I feel, always have and I always will")

Album Rating: 4.5

i have realized that with some exceptions i really prefer when she's doing a more elliott smith/mark kozelek type style (punisher, funeral, chinese satellite, you missed my heart cover) and her attempts to go more with more full blown instrumentation (kyoto, i know the end) don't fit her voice well to me, which seems to be against the popular consensus

Album Rating: 5.0

Funeral is one of my favorite songs by her. I definitely prefer super serious Phoebe over emotionally distant via veiled/subtle humor Phoebe. And I'm with you Romulus, stripped-down generally suits her better (with I Know The End being a massive exception).



But I also don't think I'd like I Know The End half as much as I do without the apocalyptic imagery, I'm such a sucker for anything with a profound sense of finality.

Album Rating: 4.5

oh man that line in funeral kills me ngl. but i understand why someone wouldn't like it

Funeral I'd say falls into a similar pattern in that she uses the title event (and others) as a pretty obvious proxy to air her feelings - so there's still an level of indirectness going on (which is maybe a better way to put it; being tentative/non-committal are just other forms of this)
I think that track works particularly well tbh, and it's one I pay most attention to; she plays with a range of perspective and parallel undertones of earnestness and self-deprecation quite convincingly and relatably. I get why that line rubs you the wrong way, but in the light of her "Wishing I was someone else, feeling sorry for myself/when I remembered someone's kid is dead" moment of self-awareness, I'd say it's crafted to seem a little off compared to the heavier verses (whether or not that redeems it is a matter of opinion ig)