Today, and in celebration of the coming summer, I'm going to start holding up songs from AdriAnne Lenker and her Brooklyn based indie folk/rock band, Big Thief, on a song by song basis. Each day I'll be holding up a song that features either AdriAnne Lenker as a songwriter, or a singer, or, mostly, both. I'll be rating each song according to my own inner compass and I will tally up the ratings given by me and anyone who participates -- if anybody else participates. Rating is not a prerequisite for joining this thread! I just like to rate songs as it focuses my critical thinking, and also I enjoy seeing how a collective rates a song...but for anybody who is uncomfortable with that, please do not feel you have to rate songs. My main goal here is to discuss the amazing music of AdriAnne Lenker, who I actually discovered via this site in 2019. Some biographical material:(mostly taken from Wikipedia) AdriAnne Lenker was born in Indianapolis on July 9th, 1991. Her family were part of a unidentified Christian cult but broke away from them when she was about five years old. They spent the next several years living a rather itenerate life, moving around and living mostly in Minnesota suburbs and rural areas and at one point in their van. Eventually they settled in the Minneapolis suburb of Plymouth, where Adrianne lived for ten years. AdriAnne's father, John Lenker, was a musician and he recognized quite early on that AdriAnne had talent -- she wrote her first song at the age of eight, and her first album, Stages Of The Sun, was recorded at the age of 13 and released when she was 14, on February 28th, 2006. She was also a martial arts adherent, and won state karate championships three years in a row. Her parents supported her career in music As a teenager she took the G.E.D. exam and dropped out of school to pursue her music career dropped out of school. Eventually she applied for a summer course at the Berkelee School of Music and moved to Boston. After the course, the school was keen to enrol her, but she couldn't afford it; she got a full-ride scholarship paid for by Berkelee Alumnus Susan Tedeschi to study at the prestigious music college. It was while living in Boston that she first met Buck Meek, a guitarist and folk singer from Texas. Sometime in the early '10s, AdriAnne moved to Brooklyn, New York City; on the first day in the big city she happened to run into Meek at a bodega (i.e., a small corner shop or grocery store in a Mexican neighborhood). The two struck up a friendship and soon began a musical collaboration that would initially culminate in a pair of EPs A-sides and B-sides. AdriAnne's first album, Stages of the Sun was self-released and extremely rare; it does not stream anywhere that I know of and I have never heard it. Another album entitled Then The Rain Came was apparnetly planned for release in 2008 -- and a 4 song promo EP from it was released, but the album itself never materialized. Thus for the purpose of thist thread I will be skipping it for the most part ...however, I will link to the one song that is available from YouTube as sort of warm up. As well as any other songs that might stream that I come across. Due to the fact that Adrianne Lenker is a bit more obscure than, say, Paul McCartney, this thread may take a while to gain momentum; it may not even gain momentum at all. To help it along I will first begin posting songs every other day until I feel that there is sufficient interest to go day by day. (Read: a couple of other posters.) If I don't see that, then I will go at a rate of a song per day on my own after I've covered the A-side and B-side EPs. The albums, or releases I shall cover then through the course of this thread are: Hours Were The Birds (2014) A-sides -Adrianne Lenker & Buck Meek (2014) B-sides -Adrianne Lenker & Buck Meek (2014) Masterpiece - Big Thief (2016) Capacity - Big Thief (2017) AbyssKiss (2018) U.F.O.F. - Big Thief (2019) Two Hands - Big Thief (2019) Songs (2020) Instrumentals (2020) Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe IN You - Big Thief (2022) This is 112 songs in all, meaning I will finish probably in late September or so. I will also cover any other non-LP tracks per and live albums I come across. Note: I do not plan to hold up any bootlegged or unreleased material, though if other people discuss those things as part of the organic discussion, that will be all right, of course; nor will the scope of this thread include Buck Meek's worthy solo songs -- only the ones recorded and released with Adrianne Lenker. I will go over those that he did release with her, though.
So as a warm up, today's song is "Imperfection", written by Adrianne Lenker and John Lenker; prouced by Steve Hodge. Strings arranged by Dan Schwartz*, John Lenker, Michelle Kinney, Yuri Merzhevsky Adrianne Lenker – Imperfection Lyrics | Genius Lyrics "Imperfection" was the second song on AdriAnne Lenker's album Stages of the Sun, which was self-released ) on February 28th, 2006, when AdriAnne was 15 years old. Line Up: AdriAnne Lenker: vocals, acoustic guitar with Steve Hodge: additional guitars Tony Axtell: piano, keyboards Yuri Merzhevsky: violin Michelle Kinney: cello
What strikes me immediately is the voice: this is a far cry from the twangy, "authentic" back-country folk style that she I think so distinguishes her from most singers: this is much more conventional and "pretty"-- sounds a lot like Jewel, I suppose. The song overall is quite pretty, if a little lyrically awkward -- in a teenage sort of way. Of course, writing a song like this at 15 is an impressive feat of precocity, but the overall sparkling nature of the production actually doesn't end up being that interesting, nor is the melody really that compelling. 3.4/5 My next entry will probably be in a couple of days unless this thread attracts some interest before then; I'll continue to look for more "early" songs (that were officially released) on YouTube and if I find them I will hold them up as well...if not, or once I run out of "early, obscurities)songs I"ll start holding up songs from Arianne's 2014 album Hours Were The Birds.
Here's a song that was never released: Only Seventeen. This video is not meant to be rated, and it comes a full six years after the song above -- yet still before the release of Hours Were The Birds. AdriAnne paid her dues on the streets of Cambridge Massechusetts: recorded in August 2012.
Big Adrianne fan and looking forward to this. FYI that "only seventeen" song was released, it's called Lighthouse and it's track 2 on Hours Were The Birds
I have always been interested in Big Thief after hearing exerpts from their latest (great!) album so I'll bite with this thread for now (funny you should start this thread now I was thinking about them the other day) Imperfection I have given this a couple of listens since the thread started earlier and It is a nice song however this is very 2006 (not my fav era for musical production) in it's sound and as you say the fact a teenager wrote this is impressive and I am willing to cut it some slack 3/5 looking forward to another great song-by-song mate!
Great to see you. Indeed. I would never guess this was AdriAnne if it didn't say so. She developed into such a more original voice by the time she was 21. Still, I wish there were more songs from this album available. (There is one more I've found that I'll put up tomorrow.) I have been thinking about Bob Dylan because of your thread, and it strikes me that Bob Dylan too started out with sort of a sweet, conventional singing voice, by all accounts -- but by the time he was really rolling he had developed it into something strikingly original and "authentic" sounding, even if it was just a put on. That kind of reminds me of AdriAnne Lenker's voice as later on, her wavery tone, shaky rhythm and twangy accent makes her sound like she's come from the hard-scrabble mud huts of Apallachia or something and the songs are being quietly torn from her soul. Here you can see that she started out as a sort of Jewel-like folk/country singer.
I'm looking forward to this thread. Big Thief are the best band of the last few years and their discography is already incredibly strong. I haven't listened to Adrianne's solo stuff before Big Thief so I will probably jump in around Masterpiece.
On this song, she's got this breathy voice which was very popular in the '00s and I guess which was meant to convey sincerity or emotion but which always struck me as overwrought, particularly given the usual subject matter of the songs (boys). I don't think this song is good, but I'm going to withhold commenting because she was just a teenager. I've heard some Big Thief songs on the radio that I liked, but I haven't sat down and listened to any of their stuff, so I'm interested to see where this goes. If I think there's promise, I'll jump in; if it's not my cup of tea, I'll bow out.
I’ve never heard of AdriAnne Lenker or Big Thief. But the first song Imperfection sounded good enough to follow this thread. I’m not sure if I’ll rate these songs since it’ll be my first time hearing any of them.
Well if I wasn't in totally on this thread earlier I am now, gave "Masterpiece" a listen on a whim and wow! what a great album, might have to give that one a purchase (digitally, CD asking prices for this band are outrageous) I love this forum for both reminding me of great music and turning me on to new music I may have otherwise overlooked. This band warrants further examination.
I guess there is sufficient interest in this to go day by day, so I'll begin with songs from Hours Are the Birds tomorrow. In the meantime, here's the other song from the "lost album", Stages of the Sun that is available on Youtube: It's called "My Life Is Fine" and was written by John Lenker (AdriAnne's father.) Adrianne Lenker – My Life is Fine Lyrics | Genius Lyrics Line Up AdriAnne Lenker: vocals and acoustic guitar with John Lenker: acoustic guitar, backing vocals Tony Axtell: bass guitar, piano, keyboards Steve Hodge: additional guitars Yuri Murzhevsky: violin Michelle Kinney: Cello
My Life Is Fine: I almost can't believe how conventionally country this is. The arrangement is pretty, the melody is pretty bland, though. AdriAnne sounds good, but in such a conventional way that is ultimately boring without some really sweet melody to hang that voice on: And her phrasing on this one seems a bit amateurish or teenagery too, though that may be the fault of the awkwad lyrics. Overall if this came up on the radio or something I might listen to it for about 5 seconds, yawn and move on to something else. It is not unpleasant but there's nothing really to grab on melodically or lyrically. 2.2/5
I'm not going to bother counting up these few ratings of these songs. Clearly AdriAnne herself is not thrilled with this stuff, otherwise I see no reason why she hasn't made it available. Today I'm going to start holding songs up from Hours Were The Birds, which, for all practical intents and purposes was AdriAnne's real debut. As I mentioned, between the release of Stages of the Sun in 2006 and Hours Were the Birds in 2014 AdriAnne studied guitar, discovered Elliot Smith and realized she wasn't making the records she wanted to make, , travelled for some time around the MidWest in a van and eventually enrolled in a full-ride scholarship to Berklee School of Music in Boston, paid for by Susan Tedeschi. She had never gone to high school, having taken her GED early on to focus on music, with her parents blessing. Afterwards, she moved to Brooklyn in New York City where she met Buck Meek, who she had become acquainted with in Boston, on her first day in the City, and the two struck up a friendship and musical collaboration. They busked together and recorded songs together which would eventually be releaesd on the A-sides and B-sides EP compilations. But before those were released, AdriAnne releaesd Hours Were The Birds. She worked as a waitress and recorded the album mainly because they only recordings she had were the ones made in the '00s and thus were not representeative of her work. AdriAnne: Hours Were The Birds was recorded by Rob Oesterlin at Oesterlin's studio The Terrarium in Minneapolis. It was mixed by Andrew Sarlo. It was released on January 9th, 2014 through Adrianne Lenker's website, on both CD and MP3 files. In 2018 it was reissued on vinyl, CD ad digitally through Saddle Creek Records and is available on most digital platforms. The tracklist was: Hours Were the Birds (AdriAnne Lenker) Lighthouse (Lenker) Disappear (Lenker) Gone (Lenker) Steamboat (Lenker) To Violet (Lenker) Indiana (Lenker) Butterfly (Lenker) Snow Song (Lenker) We Were Young (Lenker) After I go over these songs, I'll start holding up songs from the A-sides EP by AdriAnne Lenker & Buck Meek on the 21st of May.
Today's song is "Hours Were the Birds", written by AdriAnne Lenker; produced and recorded by Rob Oesterlin; mixed by Andrew Sarlo. Adrianne Lenker – Hours Were the Birds Lyrics | Genius Lyrics Line Up: AdriAnne Lenker: vocal and acoustic guitars with Tyler Arnold: backing vocal
Here we go. When I listen to "Hours Were the Birds" I feel like I'm listening to a song that's been plucked from the collective consciousness of that mysterious weird underground America I've come across in my life now and again -- but never enough times, always left me wanting more; becuase it can only exist intermittently, and just out of reach, an elusive will-o-the-wisp. It one of those songs that feels like it's existed for centuries and yet feels totally fresh as dew on the sunlit grass. It has the joy of life embedded in it, it's melody is playful and there's something about that voice that just tickles my ears and embeds itself inside me. She sounds as ancient as Dylan did when he was 21....It's a little girl's voice, but it's also an old lady's voice and older and somehow the entire package of the song -- the guitars, the melody, that voice, the backing vocal -- comes together and makes such a startling musical statement to me. There's something about the weird balance this strikes between melancholy and joy that just hits me so hard. Great guitar playing too. Even if technically her career didn't start here, that AdriAnne Lenker prescence defiitely does start here. Love the lyrics. Isn't this Dandy? 5/5 for me.
I’ve never heard of AdriAnne Lenker but I do like her voice based on one play of this song. I fell into a cultural vacuum in 2009 or so and am still trying to catch up and find stuff I missed since that year even if I can’t fully immerse myself into new artists as I once was able to. I’ll try and keep an ear on this album via this thread and see if it registers enough to take a bit of a dive into her work. Of course with time being precious I’m not sure how I’ll fit this in alongside the Paul Simon and David Bowie SxS threads but one can but try!
I hear you. I've currently got five of these threads going and am trying to chime in on Bob Dylan and David Bowie. I love these song-by-song threads! We've got a about two albums worth of acoustic solo stuff before her band, Big Thief starts. Big Thief is one of the greatest bands of the last ten years, not that I'm a huge expert on music from the last ten years. But it's definitely one that caught my ear in a big way.
It’s always good to latch onto newer bands, especially in the period when things (for me) became less noticeable or had less of an impact. So Big Thief sounds like they could well appeal to me. Off Topic, but hopefully of interest: On a Facebook page that I contribute to I am in the final third of posting 15 examples of ‘British’ music between the last two Coronations - so 1953-2023 taking 2 per decade and one from the current one. I decided to feature largely artists that were commercially (and therefore culturally) significant that lie outside of my list of favourite artists but I included 2 thus far that disobey that rule (The Beatles and Bowie). I also wanted to include at least 1 example from each of the 4 nations that make up the U.K. So it’s actually been quite a challenge to think in those terms rather than going from The Beatles, to Zeppelin, to Peter Gabriel, to The Stranglers, to The Waterboys, to Radiohead etc (which would all be among my defaults). I still have 5 choices to settle on (from 2000 onwards) and the last decade and this one will be very difficult to be certain about as I know who the major artists are without knowing a single thing about their music or which cut to select. But in a way that’s a valid exercise as it will force me to listen to stuff that I wouldn’t actually bother with. But it’s been well received by the group and actually made me think outside the box.
Hours Were the Birds Yeah this is a lovely song and a marked improvement over the stuff from her teen years, nice guitar work and I like the lyrics this style of I dunno "Fragile" singing voice suits the song well and puts me in a rather reflective mood irrespective to the lyrics for me it has a rather spring/summery vibe however with that air of melancholy and looking back to a time I'm not even sure existed but I sure want it to. 4.5/5
My life is fine Forgot to rate this earlier but I like this one more than the previous one from this album, however it is still very 2006 might give this one a listen again in future. 3.2/5
