Album Review: Adrianne Lenker - Abysskiss

Known predominantly as the singer, songwriter and guitarist for the band Big Thief, Adrianne Lenker is one of those artists who writes constantly, documenting daily life and existential thoughts as she travels the world with her band. Abysskiss is her second solo album and it finds her expanding the raw folk of her debut into a freer and more subtly textured set of songs.

Acoustic guitar is at the core of each track. Generally finger-picked and inventive, it is the vessel that carries the songs as Lenker’s voice quietly drifts across the music, repeating phrases, re-shaping words into different phrasings and emphasising mood and tone over any quest for perfection. It amounts to a hypnotic effect akin to heavy-lidded lullabies and that sweetly intoxicating drift when you’re halfway between dreaming and awake. As a result, the songs have an intangible quality that requires repeat listens to get a handle on them. Each track also contains a secondary element or two - a ghostly backing vocal, field-type recordings or another instrument, adding another thin layer of texture to the music.

Out Of Your Mind is the most immediate song, sharing a gentle chug and sound with some of Liz Phair’s work while Blue And Red Horses is catchy in a playground chant kind of way. Symbol is another that lifts the pace and inhabits a nice pocket of ethereal psychedelic folk. Across the album, themes seem to allude to big picture things such as childhood, the inevitably of death and the cyclical nature of life. Heavy stuff indeed, but in Lenker’s hands it has a sense of mystery and wonder that draws the listener into her intimate world of song.