New Music Reviews: Adrianne Lenker, Gillian Welch, and Ariana Grande

Three recent albums – a solo album by Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker, enthralling with just voice and guitar. An archival release from Americana legend Gillian Welch, covering the first volume of 48 songs she recorded in one weekend in 2016. And the third album in three years from pop/R&B superstar Ariana Grande.

Adrianne Lenker

Songs

Big Thief’s Adrianne Lenker has made solo albums before – she released Stages of the Sun as a 15 year old, with a disconcertingly glossy cover, and also released Hours Were The Birds in 2013 and Abysskiss in 2018. Songs, released in a joint package with Instrumentals, follows in the wake of a breakout year in 2019 for Big Thief, with U.F.O.F. and Two Hands both receiving acclaim.

Where U.F.O.F. in particular was a dense record that took time to appreciate, Songs is pared down to just Lenker and her guitar. Lenker’s easily talented enough to carry a solo project alone – Lenker’s guitar work is distinctive and interesting. Lenker’s songwriting voice is even more distinctive – she sometimes reminds me of a female Neil Young, with a thin emotive voice and a unique perspective. Lenker’s songs always feel like she sees the world, and hears music, a little differently than everyone else, and she’s letting us on her viewpoint.

Lenker’s fascinating – she grew up in a cult, while in the interview cycle for Songs she’s discussed the dissolution of a five year marriage to Big Thief guitarist Buck Meek. She’s particularly emotionally vulnerable on ‘Not A Lot, Just Forever’, where she sings “And your dearest fantasy/Is to grow a baby in me/I could be a good mother.”

Lenker’s guitar picking and keening voice are beautiful on ‘Anything’. Most of my favourites are clustered at the end of Songs – like its predecessor ‘Not A Lot, Just Forever’, ‘Dragon Eyes’ is straightforward and emotional. Closer ‘My Angel’ is atmospheric and its sudden ending is a reminder of the rough-hewn origins of Songs. It was recorded on an 8-track tape machine in a wood cabin in Massachusetts during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Lenker’s one of music’s most compelling artistic voices right now, and Songs is almos as intriguing as Big Thief’s two records last year.


Gillian Welch

Boots No. 2: The Lost Songs, Vol. 1

It’s been a banner year for Gillian Welch fans – she’d been quiet ever since 2003’s Soul Journey, with only one subsequent studio album. In 2020, she’s already released a quarantine album of covers with partner Dave Rawlings, and she’s now released 48 songs from her archive as Boots No. 2. The release of Boots No. 2 was prompted by a tornado – in early March, the roof was torn off their recording studio, and Welch and Rawlings scrambled to save their equipment and archived recordings. The salvage process made them realise they cared for the material (Welch told Rolling Stone that “It’s one thing to know in your mind that you have these tapes, and it’s another thing to run through the dark with them in your arms, rescuing them from destruction”), and they’ve released it over three volumes during the back end of 2020.

Welch needed to deliver a prescribed number of songs by the end of 2002 to complete a publishing deal. Accordingly, all 48 songs were recorded in a single weekend in December 2002 and releasing them has almost doubled her back-catalogue. Despite the quick recording process, The Lost Songs feels apiece with most of Welch’s other material; as always it’s centred around Welch and Rawlings’ harmonies with Rawlings adding adornment, often on his 1935 Epiphone Olympic guitar.

The first sixteen songs from the archives are collected on Volume 1. ‘Johnny Dear’ immediately sets the standard high while ‘First Place Ribbon’ showcases Rawlings’ picking – his ability to provide interesting lead parts on so many tracks is key. Welch is able to tap into powerful tradition on ‘Give That Man A Road’ and ‘Mighty Good Book’. ‘Valley of Tears’, covered by Solomon Burke, is simple and graceful. The bluesy ‘Honey Baby’ features a surprisingly raw vocal, and ‘Here Come the News’ is a pretty closer.

New listeners might want to start with Revival or Time (The Revelator), but this archival release is essential for Welch fans, especially given her small discography.

I’ll planning to slip the other two volumes of Boots No. 2 quietly onto the Gillian Welch page on this site, rather than feature them in New Reviews. At the moment my impression is that Volume 2 is the strongest, with less stylistic variation than the first but a very fine set of songs. Volume 3 features some material that was later reworked for Soul Journey.


Ariana Grande

Positions

I heartily enjoyed Grande’s previous two records – she was fascinating when her lyrics focused on PTSD around the Manchester bombing and her reaction to Mac Miller’s overdose. Lyrics aren’t always the focus in pop music, but the focus on serious subject matter made for interesting songs. On Positions, Grande’s third album in little over 24 months, she reverts to more traditional R&B subject matter, chronicling the lust of a new relationship on songs like ’34+35′ and ‘Nasty’. When presented with Disney-sounding strings for the former, she opted to make lyrics as jarringly yet awkwardly dirty as possible, with lines like “Just get me them babies” and “Even though I’m wifey, you can hit it like a side chick.” The lyrical preoccupations obviously recall Dangerous Woman, but musically Positions often resembles the 1990s R&B throwbacks of her debut.

The emotional punch of the past two previous records is still present – the duet with The Weeknd on ‘Off The Table’ is low-key, focused on the pair’s vocals. The quirky string arrangements of ‘My Hair’ and ‘Love Language’ are different from anything Grande’s done before, and there’s a lovely coda on the latter. There’s plenty of accomplished R&B/pop, like the title track and the closing ‘POV’.

Positions feels a little low key after a run of block-busting albums from Grande, but it’s still an enjoyable collection of songs with few obvious weak points.

Read More

Aphoristical
Aphoristical

Graham Fyfe is probably the only music blogger to appreciate Neil Diamond and Ariana Grande. Aphoristic Album Reviews features reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.

21 Comments

  1. Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings…that is fantastic. I like the minimalist approach…it’s all you need when it sounds this good. I just listened to some more off of this.

  2. So I need to buy all three of those Welch sets. Hot damn. And never heard of Lenker, I don’t think, but female Neil Young? INTERESTING! As for Ariana Grande, I think I need to stop thinking of her as a Starbucks order and pay attention a bit more. The only track I liked was her duet with Stevie Wonder, and that’s because STEVIE, so we’ll see how it goes.

  3. I think Adrienne Lenker was my favorite, and I haven’t listened to her before – I can see what you mean about being a young female Neil Young, as she sounds like her emotions drift with the surrounding environment, always wandering for a point of permanence. In any case, her lyrics and music are very haunting and emotive.

  4. Big Thief were my big discovery of last year and I promptly consumed and loved their four albums. For some reason I’d put off listening to Adrianne Lenker’s album but put it on this week and it’s gorgeous

Leave a Reply

More from Aphoristic Album Reviews

Aphoristic Album Reviews is almost entirely written by one person.

Graham Fyfe is probably the only music blogger to appreciate both Neil Diamond and Ariana Grande. Based in Fleet Street (New Zealand), he's been writing this blog since around 2000. Aphoristic Album Reviews features reviews and blog posts across a growing spectrum of popular music.

Review Pages

Read about the discographies of musical acts from the 1960s to the present day. Browse this site's review archives or enjoy these random selections:

Sigur Rós

Iceland’s most famous post-rock band  is named after the sister of singer/guitarist Jónsi Birgisson, who was born on the same day as the band was formed in Reykjavík in 1994. The group combine Jonsi’s high pitched, gorgeous voice with pretty melodies and atmospheric backdrops. The group broke through to music […]
Can You Fly Freedy Johnston
Freedy Johnston Album Reviews

Freedy Johnston seems destined to be remembered as a one-hit wonder for 1994’s ‘Bad Reputation’, a critically acclaimed but commercially marginal figure. This semi-obscurity isn’t necessarily surprising – popular music is littered with talented performers who only enjoyed a brief period of fame – but Johnston is worth hearing, a skilled craftsman […]
Matthew Sweet Album Reviews

1990s power-pop star Matthew Sweet was born in Nebraska – also the home of Josh Rouse, Conor Oberst, Randy Meisner, and JoJo Siwa. After finishing school he moved south to Athens, Georgia, to attend college and join the alt-rock scene. Athens had already spawned notable alt-rock bands The B-52s and […]
The Police Album Reviews

English trio The Police released their first album in 1978. Despite the timing, they weren’t especially punk, something that’s immediately apparent from their choice of band name. The Police were already music industry veterans when they formed – guitarist Andy Summers was already in his mid-30s and had played with […]
Amy Grant Album Reviews

The Queen of Christian pop music, Amy Grant also enjoyed success as a crossover pop artist in the 1980s and 1990s. Born in Georgia, her family moved to Nashville when she was 7. At 15 she wrote her first song, ‘Mountain Top’. When she recorded a demo of it for […]
Transatlantic Album Reviews

Transatlantic are a progressive rock supergroup, plucking members from other successful neo-prog acts. Bassist Pete Trewavas has been a member of Marillion since 1982, while drummer Mike Portnoy is a former member of Dream Theater. Guitarist Roine Stolt comes from The Flower Kings, while keyboardist and primary vocalist Neal Morse […]

Blog Posts

I add new blog posts to this website every week. Browse the archives or enjoy these random selections:

10 Best Simon & Garfunkel Songs

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel met in 1953 when they appeared in their school’s production of Alice in Wonderland – Simon played the White Rabbit and Garfunkel the Cheshire Cat. Learning to harmonise together, they released their first single, ‘Hey Schoolgirl’ in 1957 as Tom & Jerry. Initially inspired by […]
Liberty Belle and the Black Diamond Express The Go-Betweens
10 Best Go-Betweens Songs

Robert Forster and Grant McLennan met at the University of Queensland. Despite McLennan’s lack of musical experience, they formed a band, combining the tunefulness of The Monkees with the edge of The Velvet Underground. Their first album was recorded as a three-piece, with drummer Lindy Morrison. After an uncertain debut, […]
Tintin Comics: Ranked From Worst To Best

Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi, better known as Hergé, published the first Tintin adventure in the Catholic magazine Le Vingtième Siècle in 1929. The final, unfinished Tintin book, Tintin and Alph-Art, appeared in 1986, three years after Hergé’s death. During that time, Tintin evolved; the first volume, Tintin in the Land […]
Joy Division Unknown Pleasures
10 Best Joy Division Songs

Manchester post-punk band Joy Division appeared so ordinary – in their music videos they look like four young civil servants playing music in their work clothes. But the music that they created was unique and deeply unsettling. Steven Morris’ drumming was robotic, while Peter Hook’s bass was busy and melodic, […]
The Jam: Albums Ranked from Worst to Best

The Jam were huge in the UK during the punk era, scoring four top ten albums and four number-one singles. Emerging from Woking, on the outskirts of London, the three-piece band were fast and aggressive enough to initially be considered as punk. Subsequent albums showed a heavy influence from mid-1960s […]
The Band: Albums Ranked from Worst to Best

After years of playing live, The Band recorded the Basement Tapes with Bob Dylan, where they developed their unique melding of rock with traditional folk, country and blues forms. The organic harmonies, the virtuoso but unassuming musicianship, and songs that seemed to spring from an America of a hundred years earlier; these […]
%d bloggers like this: