The “sophomore slump” has been a real and documentable phenomenon. I don’t know how many bands I’ve lost interest in after the excitement of their first album failed to reappear in their second. But apparently Phoebe Bridgers believes the slump to be mere sophistry, as her phenomenal sophomore (see what I did there) album, Punisher, is a noticeable improvement over her very good by any measure 2017 debut album Stranger in the Alps. I’m still kicking myself for having paid attention to that album too late for it to make the 2017 Top 31, but I’m so glad I didn’t miss the boat on Punisher.

The laziest way for me to describe to you Bridgers’ music is via these three words: “female Sufjan Stevens.” Throughout the album, Bridgers undersells the power of her voice, singing at just above a whisper. Her tone is that of a delicate flower, fragrant and beautiful. But like Stevens at his best, she punctures that quietness in calculated bursts, wielding her power like a dagger hidden in an ankle holster. The production of her music places the mic close to the fingers on her guitar, so you hear every movement and pluck, and filled out with key strings and slide guitars and ever-so-perfect digital wisps layered on top. It’s lush, a valley of cool breezes and wildflowers.

It’s the stark changes, however, that truly remind me of Sufjan. “ICU” is a loud, digitally-infused rock song about breaking up with her boyfriend. “Now I can’t even get you to play the drums, ’Cause I don’t know what I want until I fuck it up.” He remains the drummer in her band, despite the scenes described in the song. “I Know the End,” my favorite song on the album, starts out simply enough, quietly describing the depression that comes from constant touring. But then it builds, and builds some more, in a Sufjan-esque way, to a beautiful cacophony of screams and noise. The song ends with Bridgers endearingly mimicking the sound of a stadium crowd screaming.

Even though she’s only been in the music business since around 2014, she’s worked with and performed with a crazy amount of top artists you know. She joined forces with Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus to form Boygenius, who released an EP in 2018. And then she and Conor Oberst released an album as Better Obvlivion Community Center in 2019, all three of whom appear at various points on Punisher as well. She has performed many times with Matt Berninger and The National, most recently in 2020 when she appeared in Zach Galifianakis’s feature length movie “Between Two Ferns” as the lead singer of the fake band Phoebe Bridgers and The Spiders from Bars, with Berninger and two members of The Walkmen as the Spiders.

Bridgers, whose middle name is Lucille (which I love), was 25 when Punisher came out on June 18, a day early, like so many other albums that were released early in response to the global unrest caused by the murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd. She is politically outspoken and uses her platform to call attention to causes she believes in, and by choosing to release her album early she pushed her fans to donate to racial justice charities and called for the abolition of police. Additionally, she actively campaigned for Biden/Harris, vowing to cover Goo Goo Dolls’ massive hit “Iris” should Trump lose. She recorded the song with Maggie Rogers and released it on November 13.

Bridgers has released a number of great videos from the album. “Savior Complex,” shown above, was directed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge (a favorite of mine – go watch “Fleabag” right now if you haven’t seen it) and stars Paul Mescal (who starred in my favorite show of 2020, “Normal People.” It’s brilliant, go watch it right after you watch “Fleabag.”) “I Know the End” is cryptic, but since it’s my favorite song I’ll give it a pass. “Kyoto” and “Garden Song” were filmed just as the pandemic was taking hold, created in a necessarily lo-fi way.

If you’re like me, you’ve got a lot of catching up to do in the world of Phoebe Bridgers. Don’t sit on it — if she keeps up the rate at which she’s producing music, you’ll be permanently left behind, and we simply can’t have that.

__________________________________________

1. Saint Cloud by Waxahatchee
2. Fetch The Bolt Cutters by Fiona Apple
3. Punisher by Phoebe Bridgers
4. folklore + evermore by Taylor Swift
5. Untitled (Black Is) + Untitled (Rise) by Sault
6. RTJ4 by Run The Jewels
7. Shore by Fleet Foxes
8. Serpentine Prison by Matt Berninger
9. The Ascension by Sufjan Stevens
10. Making a Door Less Open by Car Seat Headrest
11. Dreamland by Glass Animals
12. A Hero’s Death by Fontaines D.C.
13. Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez by Gorillaz
14. Mordechai + Texas Sun EP by Khruangbin
15. Introduction, Presence by Nation of Language
16. Free Love by Sylvan Esso
17. Miss Anthropocene by Grimes
18. 3.15.20 by Childish Gambino
19. Women In Music Pt. III by HAIM
20. The Third Mind by The Third Mind
21. Superstar by Caroline Rose
22. Impossible Weight by Deep Sea Diver
23. We Will Always Love You by The Avalanches
24. Ultra Mono by IDLES
25. Visions of Bodies Being Burned by clipping.
26. Thin Mind by Wolf Parade
27. The Loves of Your Life by Hamilton Leithauser
28. Palo Alto (Live) by Thelonious Monk
29. color theory by Soccer Mommy
30. Fall to Pieces by Tricky
31. Quarantine Casanova by Chromeo

Subscribe to the 2020 Bacon Top 31 playlist: Apple Music / Spotify
All Top 31s