2017 Championship Tournament, Round 1: #10 v. #28 - Games

baystateoftheart
Neil Young as a butternut squash

Age: 29
Location: Massachusetts

Seed #10:

Stranger In The Alps by Phoebe Bridgers

Nominated By: babyBlueSedan
Genres [RYM]: Indie Folk, Singer/Songwriter

Seed #28:

Reaching For Indigo by Circuit Des Yeux

Nominated By: meccalecca
Genres [RYM]: Avant-Folk, Art Pop

Instructions:

Please listen to both albums in full before voting. Share your thoughts and/or your vote in this thread. This poll will be tallied in no fewer than twenty-eight days and no more than forty-two days. See Tournament Spreadsheet for the full bracket.
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babyBlueSedan
Used to be sort of blind, now can sort of see

Gender: Male

When I nominated Stranger in the Alps for this tournament I thought I was nominating a hidden gem, but it turns out it's ranked at 40 for the year here. So I guess Phoebe is more popular than I thought, which is of course a good thing, but I'm hoping some people still discover this album with this tournament.

Musically Bridgers has been compared to some other artists making "depressing" singer-songwriter stuff, including Julien Baker (who she's touring and recording with, super excited for that). But of all the artists in that vein that I've heard, none of them have the natural storytelling abilities that Bridgers has. She has a way of expressing really general themes with really specific details; most of her lyrics are written as if she's speaking to someone else, but her songs never feel like they're just about that one story - they feel bigger than that. Like on the opening track she tells a story about wanting to fall in love, but most of the lyrics are about certain events in her relationship with that person. She mentions hearing specific songs and spending time together in a cabin, and somehow this gives the song a feeling of nostalgia and comfort. All of these songs have a melancholic feel, but they're never self-pitying and often very self aware. Which for me makes it an album that feels cathartic without it actually bumming me out. I could list favorite lyrics for days because she's able to spin really tongue-in-cheek lines ("I asked you how it is playing drums / you said it's too much shit to carry") but also really thoughtful ones ("sometimes when he looks at me / I know he needs you you're all that he sees") but I don't want to spoil all the best moments for you.

Musically the album has a lot of variety that make it hard to pin down. Most of the songs are slow burners, but they all have this feel like there's something more bubbling under the surface. The songs occasionally burst open, and it feels really cathartic when they do. But really the music is just backing for the amazing stories she tells. Honestly the artist she reminds me the most of is Mark Kozelek, at least as far as her songwriting goes. On the opener she mentions Lemmy and Bowie dying, which is totally out of the rambling-Koz book. But unlike the Koz's last few albums, her songs don't get derailed by these hyper-specific details. Another reason this comparison fits is that the album ends with a cover of Kozelek's "You Missed My Heart." The original is sung in a very detached tone, but Bridgers makes it feel sincere and personal, which I think works in the song's favor. I could write more but just listen to the album, you won't be disappointed.
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babyBlueSedan
Used to be sort of blind, now can sort of see

Gender: Male

As for the Circuit Des Yeux album, I listened to it a couple weeks ago when it was originally slated to face off against by pick. I enjoyed the record and thought it had a lot of creative ideas on it; I plan to give it another listen before voting but honestly it's going to be hard to vote against the album that's meant the most to me for the last year.
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baystateoftheart
Neil Young as a butternut squash

Age: 29
Location: Massachusetts

Stranger In The Alps is a fantastic album. It feels a lot more poignant than its worthy competitor and stands up well to repetition.
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dihansse

Gender: Male
Age: 60

This was a difficult choice because after listening to Phoebe Bridgers on YouTube I fairly liked the album; circuit des Yeux is however still in my top chart and I have a slight preference for that one

Repo
BeA Sunflower

Location: Forest Park

babyBlueSedan wrote:

When I nominated Stranger in the Alps for this tournament I thought I was nominating a hidden gem, but it turns out it's ranked at 40 for the year here. So I guess Phoebe is more popular than I thought, which is of course a good thing, but I'm hoping some people still discover this album with this tournament.

Musically Bridgers has been compared to some other artists making "depressing" singer-songwriter stuff, including Julien Baker (who she's touring and recording with, super excited for that). But of all the artists in that vein that I've heard, none of them have the natural storytelling abilities that Bridgers has. She has a way of expressing really general themes with really specific details; most of her lyrics are written as if she's speaking to someone else, but her songs never feel like they're just about that one story - they feel bigger than that. Like on the opening track she tells a story about wanting to fall in love, but most of the lyrics are about certain events in her relationship with that person. She mentions hearing specific songs and spending time together in a cabin, and somehow this gives the song a feeling of nostalgia and comfort. All of these songs have a melancholic feel, but they're never self-pitying and often very self aware. Which for me makes it an album that feels cathartic without it actually bumming me out. I could list favorite lyrics for days because she's able to spin really tongue-in-cheek lines ("I asked you how it is playing drums / you said it's too much shit to carry") but also really thoughtful ones ("sometimes when he looks at me / I know he needs you you're all that he sees") but I don't want to spoil all the best moments for you.

Musically the album has a lot of variety that make it hard to pin down. Most of the songs are slow burners, but they all have this feel like there's something more bubbling under the surface. The songs occasionally burst open, and it feels really cathartic when they do. But really the music is just backing for the amazing stories she tells. Honestly the artist she reminds me the most of is Mark Kozelek, at least as far as her songwriting goes. On the opener she mentions Lemmy and Bowie dying, which is totally out of the rambling-Koz book. But unlike the Koz's last few albums, her songs don't get derailed by these hyper-specific details. Another reason this comparison fits is that the album ends with a cover of Kozelek's "You Missed My Heart." The original is sung in a very detached tone, but Bridgers makes it feel sincere and personal, which I think works in the song's favor. I could write more but just listen to the album, you won't be disappointed.

Great write-up!!! Never heard her before but totally agree. A really great album.

Purplepash
ranker, rater, & music list maker

Gender: Male
Age: 54
Location: Western Australia

I listened to Circuit Des Yeux again, this time in different listening conditions, and I enjoyed it a lot more. Not everything works for me but when it does it's great. An intriguing album I would like to listen to again.

Puncture Repair

A friend recommended me Phoebe Bridgers just a month or so ago and so I picked up Stranger in the Alps. Really beautiful record - lyrics that really stay with you. Definitely morose at times, but for the most part it's a really lifting album.

That Mark Kozelek cover at the end too, oomph - really opened up the lyrics to me for the first time, even though I've heard Mark's version a hundred times. Bridgers' is probably the definitive version for me now, especially hearing such masculine poetry from a female voice

cestuneblague
Edgy to the Choir

Location: MA/FL

Eye Tour, all day any day

Skinny
birdman_handrub.gif

Cool, Julien Baker but not as good. Still gets my vote.

God, ignore me. Always.
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