‘This album is a small miracle’
– Stereogum
‘There’s no artist whose music feels as inherently magical as Lenker’s does‘
– Paste Magazine (9.7/10)
‘Bright Future shines with a certain acceptance: that everything – love, home, and the songs we write about them – will eventually pass into memory’
– Pitchfork ( 8.4, Best New Music)
‘Another accomplished record.”
– The Independent ****
‘One of the most important songwriters of her generation.’
-Brooklyn Vegan
‘Timeless… unvarnished but poetic personal snapshots in earthy, country-tinged song.’
– The Times
‘A milestone record founded in maturity and grace.’
– DIY ****
‘Lenker’s best work.’
– MOJO ****
‘It is a reminder of just how rare an artist Lenker truly is and how easy it can be to fall under her spell.’
-Treble
‘We’re in the palm of one of the greatest songwriters.’
-The Skinny
‘An early contender for album of the year’
– The Sunday Times
‘This album feels stunningly natural, with a bucolic sense of quiet and serenity.’
– Slant Magazine
‘Her Dylan-esque knack of taking the mundane and turning it into poetry feels as formidable as ever.’
– Record Collector
‘One of the most distinct and prolific voices in modern music… this is a simply beatuiful record.’
– Dork
‘A meditation on loving that shows off one of the things Lenker does best as a songwriter: taking words and memories into her hands and turning them in the sunlight to reveal new angles and new perceptions.’
– FLOOD Magazine
‘Another triumph of human connection.’
– Far Out (4.5/5, Album of the Week)
‘Adrianne Lenker extends her songwriting prime on the visceral Bright Future.’
– The Line of Best Fit (9/10)
‘Her best yet… these fruits from this latest harvest have never been sweeter.’
– The List
+ Buy Bright Future on recycled LP, black LP, CD and cassette via the 4AD store +
+ Buy from all stores +
Adrianne Lenker releases her new solo album, Bright Future, out today. The album marks Lenker’s first album since 2020’s songs & instrumentals, and features co-production from Philip Weinrobe, alongside contributions from Nick Hakim, Mat Davidson, and Josefin Runsteen.
On Bright Future, Adrianne Lenker, a songwriter known for turns of phrase and currents of rhyme, says it plainly, “You have my heart // I want it back.” Documented with analogue precision, what began as an experiment in collaboration, became proof Adrianne’s heart did return, full to the brim, daring her into the unknown.
During the high vibrance of autumn 2022, the Big Thief band member got lucky. Everyone could come. Three musical friends, “Some of my favourite people,” had space in their busy touring schedules to join her at the forest-hidden, analogue studio, Double Infinity. The musicians – Hakim, Davidson, and Runsteen – were known to Adrianne but newer to each other. “I had no idea what the outcome would be,” she recalls. The result? “It was magical,” she says. Adrianne’s musical risk became Bright Future, the studio’s first album, a 12-track telling of a journeyed heart.
Bright Future’s co-producer and engineer, Philip Weinrobe, prepared the studio. He has been Adrianne’s partner on previous solo albums, but this was something new. Adrianne did not intend to make an album. They would instead explore the songs with no expectations. Even with an open outcome, from the start, Phil wanted to capture the sessions with the purest, technical honesty. He rolled onto Double Infinity’s old cherry wood floors an Otari 1/2 inch 8-Track and Studer console.
Admirers of Adrianne’s solo music and Big Thief will find on Bright Future her reliable talent captured in stunning, magnetic clarity. In the company of parlour instruments, Adrianne’s modern melodic and lyrical inventions create new traditions. Her vocal flights at times outwit gravity, then land, guiding along an earthly path. The wholeness of the un-spliced recordings preserves a time of musical friendship during a golden season. The album also features the original recording of the now-beloved Big Thief song ‘Vampire Empire.’ Although they recorded for only some days, in Adrianne’s recollection, “It felt like we were together forever.”
Adrianne Lenker – Bright Future
4AD0719
1. Real House
2. Sadness As A Gift
3. Fool
4. No Machine
5. Free Treasure
6. Vampire Empire
7. Evol
8. Candleflame
9. Already Lost
10. Cell Phone Says
11. Donut Seam
12. Ruined
April
19th – The Black Box, Galway, Ireland* (SOLD OUT)
20th – St. Canice’s Catherdral, Kilkenny, Ireland* (SOLD OUT)
21st – Vicar Street, Dublin, Ireland* (SOLD OUT)
24th – Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow, UK+ (SOLD OUT)
25th – The Hall at Aviva Studios, Manchester, UK + (SOLD OUT)
27th – Barbican Centre, London, UK= (SOLD OUT)
29th – Bristol Beacon, Bristol, UK+ (SOLD OUT)
May
2nd – Le Trianon, Paris, France+ (SOLD OUT)
3rd – Cirque Royale, Belgium, Brussels+
5th – The Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, The Netherlands= (SOLD OUT)
6th – Admiralspalast, Berlin, Germany =
7th – Kampnagel, Hamburg, Germany =
10th – The Royal Danish Academy of Music, Copenhagen, Denmark= (SOLD OUT)
11th – Berns, Stockholm, Sweden= (SOLD OUT)
12th – Chateau Neuf, Olso, Norway= (SOLD OUT)
June
9th – The Paramount Theatre, Austin TX, US %
10th – The Paramount Theatre, Austin TX, US %
12th – KiMO Theatre, Albuquerque NM, US % (SOLD OUT)
13th – Rialto Theatre, Tucson AZ, US %
15th – The Theatre at Ace Hotel, Los Angeles CA, US= (SOLD OUT)
16th – The Theatre at Ace Hotel, Los Angeles CA, US + (SOLD OUT)
17th – Fox Theatre, Oakland CA, US = (SOLD OUT)
20th – Revolution Hall, Portland OR, US = (SOLD OUT)
21st – Revolution Hall, Portland OR, US + (SOLD OUT)
22nd – Paramount Theatre, Seattle WA, US + (SOLD OUT)
25th – The Depot, Salt Lake City UT, US = (SOLD OUT)
26th – The Mission Ballroom, Denver CO, US =
28th – Chicago Theatre, Chicago IL, US = (SOLD OUT)
29th – State Theatre, Minneapolis MN, US= (SOLD OUT)
November
11th – Academy of Music Theatre, Northampton MA, US^ (SOLD OUT)
12th – Boch Centre Shubert Theatre, Boston MA, US (SOLD OUT)
13th – Boch Centre Shubert Theatre, Boston MA, US
15th – L’Olympia, Montreal QC, Canada^
16th – Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Toronto ON, Canada^ (SOLD OUT)
18th – Kings Thheare, Brooklyn NY, US^
19th – Kings Theatre, Brooklyn NY, US^
21st – The Eastern, Atlanta GA, US^
22nd – Venue TBC, Durham NC, US^
23rd – The Anthem, Washington DC, US^
25th – Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA, US^
26th – Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA, US^
* w/ Ellie O’Neill
+ w/ Nick Hakim
= w/ Twain
% w/ Steve Fisher
^ w/ Suzanne Vallie