After a couple of collaborative projects, Phoebe Bridgers recorded her second solo album for a June 2020 release. Maybe those side hustles gave her a creative boost, because that album — Punisher — is her finest work to date.
On Punisher, Bridgers expands her sonic palette without straying too far from the acoustic melancholy of her debut. These songs are a bit more muscular and experimental, and a bit more hooky, without losing any of the emotional resonance.
She avoids the common pitfalls of sophomore albums, which often find artists contemplating their newfound success. She does have one song — the title track — that examines fame, but she does it from the perspective of a fan (herself) obsessing over Elliott Smith.
Other tracks dive into religion, her relationship with her father, coming of age, codependency, and troubled relationships. Not exactly feel-good material, but Bridgers has a way of making deep sadness feel like restorative therapy.
Starting with a haunting one-minute instrumental interlude and ending with an epic track that culminates in a cacophony of guitars and vocals, Punisher is an emotional journey of an album — a fully-formed suite of anger and acceptance.
In final track ‘I Know the End,’ Bridgers sings “The billboard said ‘The End Is Near’ / I turned around, there was nothing there / Yeah, I guess the end is here.” It’s a stirring, apocalyptic way to close the album, especially when it dropped in the middle of the Covid nightmare.
But as a creative statement, Punisher feels a lot more like a beginning.
Someday, I’m gonna live
In your house up on the hill
And when your skinhead neighbor goes missing
I’ll plant a garden in the yard, then
They’re gluing roses on a flatbed
You should see it, I mean thousands
I grew up here ’til it all went up in flames
Except the notches in the door frame
[Chorus]
I don’t know when you got taller
See our reflection in the water
Off a bridge at the Huntington
I hopped the fence when I was seventeen
Then I knew what I wanted
[Verse 2]
And when I grow up, I’m gonna look up
From my phone and see my life
And it’s gonna be just like my recurring dream
I’m at the movies, I don’t remember what I’m seeing
The screen turns into a tidal wave
Then it’s a dorm room, like a hedge maze
And when I find you
You touch my leg and I insist
But I wake up before we do it
[Chorus]
I don’t know how, but I’m taller
It must be something in the water
Everything’s growing in our garden
You don’t have to know that it’s haunted
The doctor put her hands over my liver
She told me my resentment’s getting smaller
No, I’m not afraid of hard work
I get everything I want
I have everything I wanted
Meet Me In Montauk 