Adrianne Lenker - Abysskiss (Saddle Creek Records) 2018
8
Recorded in about a week, abysskiss, the second studio effort by Adrianne Lenker outside of Big Thief, is a marvelous piece of art, an album which offers poetic indie folk passages while simultaneously exhibiting its emotional fragility.
So many records are described as being journeys, but this one truly deserves to be put in that category: from the moment we dive into this sea of introspective lyrics and delicate sounds, the stories Lenker has to tell grab our attention to the point we never want to leave the extraordinary world she conjures up using mostly vocals, guitar and keyboards. Occasionally, we hear unexpected noises as well, like a microwave door being closed on “from”, and those small details make these compositions feel even more visual and part of a universe we slowly discover with each listening experience. In the end, Lenker proves here that she is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the most talented, creative and brutally honest artists in alternative music today.