Phoebe Bridgers’s website describes her debut album as a “swooningly beautiful record with a gothic heart”. For the most part it’s easy to agree. The twentysomething Angeleno tunes her indie folk into a compelling coming-of-age exploration of the effects of love, lust, drugs, death, power on the self, referencing Lemmy and Bowie, The Smiths, social media and much more along the way.
Her voice, rich in vulnerability and attitude, commands this edgy, deeply personal landscape. Her stunning song about obsessive love, Killer, got her noticed by Ryan Adams.
Bridgers fits right in; mapping her interiority is also her game. Funeral strikes just the right jarring self-conscious note; Demi Moore taps into her inner Elliott Smith; Smoke Signals and Motion Sickness report from the frontline. Impressive and then some.
