Stranger in the Alps
| Phoebe Bridgers
Stranger in the Alps
Stranger in the Alps is the debut studio album by American musician Phoebe Bridgers, released by Dead Oceans on September 22, 2017. -Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
L.A. singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers’ debut LP is a collection of songs about intimacy, documenting how our relationships affect the way we view ourselves and interact with others.
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WKNC 88.1
“Stranger in the Alps” is sonically and thematically cohesive, although sometimes it does fall victim to repetitiveness. Totaling 11 tracks and clocking in at 44 minutes, the album feels like a good length and tends to be more refreshing than it is redundant. The final track of the album, “Smoke Signals (Reprise)” ties the album together with a callback to the first track.
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Consequence
Despite the fact that Stranger in the Alps ends with stories of prisoners, murderers, and arsonists, it’s a gentle, wistful, even mournful record that makes for an outstanding coming-out party for Bridgers and a haunting experience for the listener, with melodies and sentiments that linger, softly and poignantly, long after the music ends.
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NME
A kind of urban folksiness runs deep through the record, and the strummed softness of ‘Would You Rather’ even features Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst. The downbeat vibe is cut through by unmitigated banger ‘Motion Sickness’ but ‘Strangers In The Alps’ is definitely album for the sad times. Get ready to embrace the tears.
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Her Campus
Her writing emulates the unique and small details of our lives; the casual exchange during a conversation with a loved one, a silent car ride on the way home from a breakup, and the sadness we feel afterwards. She’s not afraid to dive into deep topics, which makes her songs so great. Each lyric is hard hitting, and as the fall season comes to its peak, I find that it fits perfectly with the feeling of cold weather and short days to look back and reflect on each song and the most memorable lyrics.
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Drowned in Sound
Some songs come close, but none hit quite as hard as Stranger in the Alps’ haunting bookends. All the same, the record is a stunning achievement, and one that heralds the arrival of a major talent, undoubtedly in it for the long haul. Even more importantly, it feels special in an intangible way that I’m at something of a loss to explain. No matter, though: if you’re a particular type of music fan – one that has read this far, for example, is reading this website, and relates to the music of some of the artists mentioned in this review – I’m sure you’ll know precisely where I’m coming from.
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The Revue
Bridgers paints these vivid pictures throughout her songs, describing relationships, specific moments, and other emotional events in time. It gets a bit personal, but it’s always relatable. The music is beautifully constructed with strings, delicately finger-picked guitar, and piano throughout. She gets loud on a few tracks, and they really stand out. Stranger in the Alps is one of the strongest debut records in a long time, and definitely a strong candidate to occupy year-end “Best of” and “Favorites” lists, including our own.
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Highway Queens
There’s a core of strength and self analysis to these songs which shines through the misery. The cover of Stranger in the Alps may paint Phoebe Bridgers as a ghost but open the record and you will see a picture of a promising artist who is revelling being in the shadows.
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KLSU
As the album progresses, Bridgers gives you insight into her life and how she copes with her emotions no matter how destructive, and in return you take a look at your own life and see you are just like her no matter what walk of life you originate from.
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Albumology
Even though the record is heavily ghoulish, you come out of Strangers in the Alps with the sense that Bridgers found the cure she was looking for when writing these songs. Perhaps because of her voice, always uncracked in live performances. Perhaps, because it’s our common knowledge that there’s success in singing your sorrows away. Either way, Bridgers has made an incredible career for herself, and Stranger in the Alps stands as a stunning, solid debut to this day. I guess it’s safe to say that she’s okay.
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Sputnik Music
All I can say is that I hadn’t felt this relaxed and self-assured listening to such a depressing and even cathartic release in a long time. And considering this was only Bridgers’ first full-length, my mind was racing at the possibilities of how she’d harness her penchant for hypnotic melancholy next time around.
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DIY Magazine
‘Stranger in the Alps’ is as accomplished a solo debut as you’ll hear all year - a quietly devastating listen worthy of Phoebe Bridgers’ obvious influences.
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The Guardian
The LA songsmith’s second album doesn’t disappoint.
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AllMusic
Front-loaded with a trio of deceptively powerful singles ("Smoke Signals," "Motion Sickness," and "Funeral"), the ten-track set loses some focus near the end, but Bridgers remains such a compelling presence throughout, that even her less immediate material bears weight.
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Under the Radar Magazine
Bridgers may prefer not to relive the memories of past relationships (“Do you feel ashamed/When you hear my name?” she asks on “Scott Street,” as if this distance is one now too expansive to cross). But when her accounts are this sonically stunning, it’s hard not to want to know every detail.
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Beats Per Minute
Although it’s undoubtedly disappointing for Bridgers not to get out on tour and share Punisher with people immediately, the forced grounding might have actually come at a perfect time for her; for starters it means she’s finally taking a much-needed break after a meteoric few years. What’s more, she’s been able to make the most of it, playing a ‘world tour’ via livestreams that have seen her performing in her bedroom and bathroom – the very places where these songs germinated, adding extra weight to these deeply personal missives and drawing her fans even closer. By the time she’s on the road again, she’ll be able to play to even bigger crowds than she ever has – but that also means there will be more ‘punishers’ than ever, too. Let’s hope she’s ready.
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The Cardinal Times
In these surreal—bordering on apocalyptic—times, Phoebe Bridgers writes a fitting soundtrack. She gives a voice to these liminal moments of boredom and anxiety, and is a powerful force in the music industry that I enthusiastically recommend.
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Spectral Nights
‘Punisher’ is a remarkable record sprinkled with sadness and timely, important observations about Phoebe’s own feelings and the wider world.
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Louder Than War
The album is fantastic and I can’t recommend listening to it enough. Punisher combines the sound of indie rock with thoughtful lyricism and a tremendous amount of ambitious songwriting, even in its more peaceful moments.
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The Skinny
When Phoebe Bridgers gets it right on Stranger in the Alps, you can see her making a long career of this.
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The Spokesman-Review
“Punisher” is a difficult album to encapsulate. It is brilliant, a truly rare work of lyrical and compositional genius. It grabs the tension Bridgers sees in life and drags it to the surface. It is coherent but diverse, harmonious but streaked with moments of wonderful dissonance.
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The Herald
For a third or fourth album Stranger in the Alps would be remarkable; for a debut it is never less than exceptional.
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Concert Crap
All in all, I’m very impressed by Pheobe’s songwriting and that amount of talent she has shown in this album. She has taken each track and given it small elements that make them each unique. Phoebe Bridgers is a songwriter that you should be keeping an eye on.
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Spectrum Culture
After becoming so defined by her musical encounters over the past few years and appearing in headlines with Ryan Adams’s name preceding her own, however, Phoebe Bridgers’s lyrical loneliness sounds best when she’s truly, finally alone and independent. The singer should trust her own musical abilities and be confident in her present self, letting her ghosts inspire her but never haunt her.
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Exclaim!
Stranger in the Alps is a gorgeously written record, and Bridgers shows her brilliance consistently across its 45-minute runtime. After touring with the likeminded Julien Baker and veteran Oberst, Bridgers is sure to follow in their footsteps, with a promising future ahead of her.
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Lock Magazine
Stranger In The Alps’ sullen tone and translucent, witty humour and maturity, makes it is easily one of the best albums of the year.
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London in Stereo
The 22 year old can already name Ryan Adams and Conor Oberst amongst her fans – the former produced a 2015 EP, while the latter brings his typical, melancholy vocal brilliance to ‘Would You Rather’ – and blends stunning folk simplicity with haunting, almost Bon Iver-esque atmosphere in a ten song collection far beyond her young years. It is an introspective, personal and utterly moving piece of work from a name who is unlikely to remain a stranger in the burgeoning indie-folk scene for long.
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Rawckus Magazine
If you don't mind an artist tugging on your heartstrings, and "tug" may not be strong enough a word, and you like singer-songwriters, you shouldn't miss Stranger in the Alps. I was really glad I circled around back to it. Some of the songs are going to stay with me for the rest of my life.
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