Somewhere down the lilac river

Big Thief's Adrianne Lenker offers a solo take on weird Americana while Laetitia Sadier embraces nuanced art-pop and electronica 

- GRAHAM REID

BRIGHT FUTURE
by Adrianne Lenker

This unusual, engrossing album was recorded in a backwoods studio, and that ambience complements these stark songs. On the opener, Real House, Lenker of New York's experimental alt-folk outfit Big Thief - weaves a six-minute reminiscence over rickety piano, sometimes going off-mike.

Its unvarnished quality suggests she's creating it in real time and we're eavesdropping on a conversation: "Do you remember/Coming to the hospital when I was 14? My friends all left me there spinning/Dad was angry and you saw everything..."

That her recollection reaches no convenient closure only adds to the mystique, and Bright Future captures that kind of crafted spontaneity.

Sadness as a Gift opens with a count-in and has the quality of a gorgeous early Dylan ballad, as rendered during his upstate retreat: "Leaning on the windowsill/You could write me someday and I bet you will".