When Phoebe Bridgers released her debut EP Killer produced by Ryan Adams in 2015, Adams called the young musician a “unicorn” — showing Bridgers’s immense talent and potential. The EP caught the attention of many in the music industry, most notably Conor Oberst.
Two years following her debut EP, Bridgers released her debut album Stranger in the Alps. The album received acclaim from critics, musicians and fans alike, with many calling it one of 2017’s best debuts. The AV Club even gave the album a perfect score.
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Following a tremendously successful 2017, Bridgers embarked on a North American tour, where the young and rising indie star managed to sell out venues across the United States. Her Madison stop is no exception.
Due to overwhelming demand, Bridgers’ show at The Frequency was moved to High Noon Saloon on April 19, which then quickly sold out as well.
For those lucky enough to have grabbed a ticket, Bridgers will bring her characteristically tender music to a sold-out crowd with support from Lomelda.
Bridgers’s astronomical effect comes from her personal and confessional lyrics that blend pain with laughter. Her biggest single, “Motion Sickness” exemplifies the pains of a break up, while managing to throw in her own sense of humor.
The lyrics’ personal nature allows for references like her ex-lover’s inability to stop singing in a fake British accent to crack a smile in an otherwise emotionally intense track.
Yet, Bridgers’s shows great maturity and vulnerability in tracks where she doesn’t break up the pain. “Demi Moore” is a deeply lonely track that begs for an end to the loneliness.
With a sense of eeriness developed from a theremin, the track is able to break from the feelings of loneliness near the end when Bridgers sings, “I could feel alone, I could, I got a good feeling, it doesn’t happen very often.”
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Bridgers’s greatest talent comes from her ability to convey difficult emotions in simple ways. “Funeral,” a track about singing about a close friend’s funeral who died of a heroin overdose, gives a personal and honest approach to an issue that is often thought of on a societal level. Bridgers does this effortlessly, which makes the song hit that much harder.
The past year has been one of great change for the up-and-coming LA based artist and that trend will likely continue due to Bridgers’s talent as a songwriter. She’ll bring her deeply tender and emotional set to Madison this Thursday to a show that has long been sold out.
