Phoebe Bridgers has announced her new album ‘Lost Weekend’ and teased details of the first taster from the record.
The follow-up to 2020’s ‘Punisher’, is set to be released on August 14 on Dead Oceans and comes after the singer-songwriter played her first live solo live show in three years last month in Roswell, New Mexico, where she debuted three new songs. You can pre-order it here.
At the time, she also strongly suggested that a new album may be on its way, and fans in attendance each received an exclusive card, which at the time appeared to combine to make up what many people thought was the artwork for Bridgers’ next release.
But the record, which according to a press release finds Bridgers at the “height of her powers, a master, taking nothing more seriously than this craft, refining here many of the motifs that distinguished her work previously on this new album that’s otherwise, everywhere, full of surprises,” actually has a different piece of artwork, which you can view below.
She also announced on Instagram, that a new song from the record will drop tomorrow (Thursday June 25), but at this stage it is unclear what it is.
After the singer-songwriter’s previous record, she performed with Boygenius – the trio of Bridgers, Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker, though they announced they were going on hiatus after the completion of their critically acclaimed album ‘The Record’ in 2023, which at the time was named our album of the year.
During her recent shows, Bridgers played several songs from her two solo albums, ‘Stranger In The Alps’ and ‘Punisher’, while the new songs were described by those in attendance as “very sad folk” with harmonica arrangements.
Bridgers also reportedly said that she saw the show as a “test” for whatever is set to come next.
At a more recent show at Madison Square Garden which NME witnessed, she debuted seven new tracks many of which continued the singular sound Bridgers built on ‘Punisher’ – melancholy lyrics made up of astute observations of the state of the world and relationships, backed by slow strumming guitars and orchestration that oscillates from Americana to indie folk.
Some of the songwriting also harkened back to the unabashed candidness of her debut album, 2017’s ‘Stranger in the Alps’. A new number she announced with “this song is about the past, though I’m told all of my songs are,” came with a crushing, crescendoing chorus that saw her and Christian Lee Hutson strumming emphatically as she alluded to an ill-fated engagement.
Bridgers also used the gig to call out ICE and raise funding for immigrants. All proceeds from ticket sales went to Community Justice Exchange’s Immigration Bond Freedom Fund, which provides aid and bail to those in ICE detention centres.
Elsewhere, she recently announced plans to hit the road in support of her new album in the UK, Ireland and North America and added further dates.
Support comes from Alex G at the North American shows and Isaac Wood at UK and European dates, and Bridgers has confirmed that there will be a “no phones” rule at all upcoming gigs. You can view the full list of shows here and buy any remaining tickets in the UK here and US here.