Bright Future (4AD)
Two-time GRAMMY Award-winning cellist and composer Andrew Yee told us about their love for an Adrianne Lenker gem...
Andrew Yee: Sitting down to choose a favorite album turned my brain inside out. What was important to me? How could I scroll past Nevermind and Pet Sounds with a shrug, knowing how much they have meant to me? It basically all came down to honesty. When a musician is making music for any reason other than honesty, it gives me the ick. It’s not something you can fake, and it takes a person who is comfortable in their own skin and being in front of a microphone to do it.
That person for me, at least right now, is Adrianne Lenker, and the album is Bright Future.
I remember the first time I heard her voice. I was laying in a hotel bed with my wife when Sadness As a Gift came on. We had been skipping around listening to new music a track at a time, and when Adrianne started singing, we were paralyzed. We had to let the whole album play through twice. The painful, direct storytelling of Real House, the heartwarming Free Treasure, the eternal Ruined.
Anyone who has done a long drive with me knows that after a while I will start pumping the saddest music until we both cry, desperately wiping away tears so we don’t crash. Every inch of this album is infused with the full spectrum of emotions. Nothing is as simple as it seems. The saddest songs have a pinprick of hope, the carefree songs are seeded with self-doubt. We have all been gifted the chance to spend 45 minutes with her heart and I feel like I’m better for it.
Andrew Yee's Trans Requiem is out now via New Amsterdam Records.
Photo by David Goddard
