Album Review: Lost Weekend

ALBUM – Lost Weekend

ARTIST – Phoebe Bridgers 

LABEL – Dead Oceans

GRADE – A- 

Releasing her first solo album in six years, Phoebe Bridgers brings us an emotional, cohesive record about grief, relationships, and isolation. 

Backed by ambient sounds, her voice carries a mystical feeling that makes me want to explore a forest or run in a meadow. 

I particularly liked songs like “The Governor’s Waltz,” where the lyrics seem to allude to her former fiancé, Paul Mescal, and his new girlfriend, Gracie Abrams, with lyrics like “she took my place in my bed on that stage.”

The song is then followed by one of the more upbeat songs in her discography, “Bobby,” about her new love with Bo Burnham and finding a flow as she settles into domesticity. 

The most heart-wrenching song on the album is “Never Going Back!,” in which she grapples with the loss of her father. It includes a voicemail at the end from her father, which gives a glimpse into their disconnected relationship, in which she is grieving the person who died but also the relationship she wishes she had.

In the ninth track, “Still Standing,” we get a glimpse into her childhood with a violent father who threatens to leave at any moment.  The lyrics “sometimes I want you back/but not today” really encapsulate her relationship with her father and how complicated grief can be. 

Although the lyrical and mystical-folk track is beautiful, the album runs a bit long and, in turn, becomes a bit redundant, making me wish there were a bit more variation in sound. 

—Hannah Flammenspeck