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CRITIC REVIEWS
100
It’s excruciating in its honesty – even for Lenker, who’s hardly known for shying away from her feelings. Now she bares her pain with complete abandon. It’s quite extraordinary.
90
Each song shuffles along with the steady patience of a current, and the recordings are immaculate and warm.
90
You’re compelled to rewind, and hear the barely-camouflaged poetry. Comparisons to Dylan or Joni Mitchell feel corny yet irresistible: songs like ‘zombie girl’ get so close to the undefinable quality that makes those artists great. But really, there is nobody quite like Lenker.
90
songs is Lenker’s most complete, her most personal work; her least comprehensible, but her most comprehensive.
90
Much like the rest of Adrianne’s catalogue, Songs is characterised by its purity of expression and an unbridled vulnerability most of us can only dream of offering - we can be grateful she gifts it so fearlessly.
90
The title ‘songs’ betrays overwhelming modesty on Adrianne Lenker’s part. Instead of isolated works, the Big Thief singer delivers one of the most cohesive, decorous albums of solo acoustic music in recent memory.
90
Lenker's work continues to reimagine love and loss, and albums like songs are her way of turning those complex emotions into something timeless.
90
Her songs feel age-old, with a haunting serenity. The talent she possesses is something so special and rare that it feels wrong to reduce it to a simple review.
88
The Big Thief singer approaches familiar themes of loss, solitude, memory, and regret in some of the most vivid songwriting of her career.
86
Adrianne Lenker’s songs is beautiful and ugly in all the best ways.
85
She has found a finer balance between her more abstract images and cutting to the quick, which makes her gentle poetry more impactful than ever.
80
Sometimes she lets us in on the context of the visceral moments she conjures, but the images on Songs feel different. The anger and sorrow feel more pointed, more active.
80
Despite their instrumental sparsity, songs and instrumentals are albums rich in detail, and when taken as a whole they feel less like a question and more like a resolution.
80
Painful memories are twirling around in Lenker’s head on Songs. It’s an album that lives up to it’s name by capturing the basic, natural truth of her art.
80
The Big Thief frontwoman comes through with a set of simply great songs.
80
The sparse palette - Lenker’s acoustic, incidental percussion, reassuring tape hiss - serves to isolate the quiet brilliance of the melodies, setting their winding, spontaneous beauty against angst that spans existential questioning and the nuts and bolts of severing ties with someone you care about.
80
Comprised of 11 confessional ballads, ‘Songs’ spotlights the warmth of Lenker’s vocals and the heartsick poetry of Lenker’s songwriting.
80
Playing alone and unadorned, every song is written from the first person, creating Lenker's most unguarded album yet.
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2y
80
It may be more of a slow burner than last year’s pair of Big Thief albums but, once the flame is ignited, these songs provide warmth and reassurance like the open fire it’s possible to imagine Lenker lighting when decamped in the American outdoors.
80
The entirety of the album is transportive. Even through the fragility of the songs and performance, it feels as if Lenker physically grabs you and places you directly in front of herself, singing these songs in a cabin in the woods.
80
Whereas abysskiss stayed on drearier paths, songs is as colorful and varied as her grandmother’s painting of wildflowers that adorns its cover.
70
While not an essential album for fans of Big Thief, admirers of Lenker's solo work will find another reliably solid, touching set of songs here.
60
Despite its roots in heartache, lead vocalist/ guitarist Adrianne Lenker’s intimate and folky double solo set lands on message.
60
Songs draws itself into clearer focus through Lenker's sweet, freshly-cut voice, her jingle-jangle mornings full of emptiness and self-doubt.
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2y
‘songs’ quietly establishes adrianne lenker's presentness as profound, melodically vague, undefinable, bleak, all-inclusive, and oftentimes oddly simple.
listeners can readily hear the organizationally-technical thoughtfulness because this project has minimal production.
lenker glows from songs' isolation, as her talent alone shines through the project rather than on collectively formed big thief works.
with words of
wisdom
guitar playing and voice are highlighted in a ... read more
The output and consistency of that output from Lenker should astound just about anyone. Ever since 2016 we haven't missed a year where Lenker offered up something special, whether that be under the group Big Thief or as a solo artist. I first caught wind of Big Thief back in 2017 with the release Capacity, and ever since if Lenker is tied to a project it has been can't-miss material. abysskiss was the first solo album I had exposed myself to from the Big Thief singer, which revealed a far more ... read more
This album balances philosophical lyrics with more comforting and straightforward lyrics really well, and the production is beautiful. I sometimes don't like how Lenker's voice sounds but most of the time its great.
(First Listen) - 82
Yet again, Adrianne Lenker creates some of the prettiest, and sweet music I've ever heard. I think I officially like her solo work more than Big Thief (and I like Big Thief quite a bit).
Adrianne Lenker's songs ( The album) is a work of art. the tender vocals and great instrumentation make this one of the best folk albums I've heard.
Individual ratings:
two reverse - 7.8/10
ingydar - 7.8/10
anything - 8.3/10
forwards beckon rebound - 8.0/10
heavy focus - 8.2/10
half return - 7.7/10
come - 8.4/10
zombie girl - 8.1/10
not a lot, just forever - 7.9/10
dragon eyes - 8.0/10
my angel - 8.5/10 (reviewers choice)
Contributions By
patton, dearsongs, MarkC, domvic, anztec, orangedroog65, KRMLN, frncscbrqz, OPENblinds, robbertrayw, Faint, MikeOwen, hbear, Salman7236Become a Donor
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Track List
| 1 | two reverse 3:33 | 91 |
| 2 | ingydar 4:08 | 91 |
| 3 | anything 3:22 | 95 |
| 4 | forwards beckon rebound 3:09 | 92 |
| 5 | heavy focus 2:34 | 91 |
| 6 | half return 2:08 | 91 |
| 7 | come 5:17 | 92 |
| 8 | zombie girl 2:44 | 92 |
| 9 | not a lot, just forever 4:10 | 93 |
| 10 | dragon eyes 3:26 | 89 |
| 11 | my angel 5:04 | 94 |
Total Length: 39 minutes
Year End Lists
| #2 | / | The New Yorker: Amanda Petrusich |
| #2 | / | Vulture |
| #3 | / | Northern Transmissions |
| #3 | / | Our Culture |
| #4 | / | Magnet |
| #4 | / | No Ripcord |
| #5 | / | Spectrum Culture |
| #7 | / | Gothamist |
| #9 | / | Paste |
| #9 | / | The Independent |
More Lists
By Dalton
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10mo
honestly, this is such a solid album from front to back. It still hasn't gotten old on my after all this time
Added on: September 2, 2020