implies a before and an after; for lenker, desire means the impossibility of turning back. yet her wistful voice and plodding chords sound less desperate than resigned, as though acknowledging that to float, however briefly, on the waves that wreck us is its own bittersweet pleasure. philip ...
lenker has woven references to ecological collapse into her songs before, but this may be the most overt. the music is wistful and simple, with lenker strumming big open chords and her chorus of collaborators singing as one voice behind her. as the planet dies, so does a relationship. ...
lenker’s fingertips rubbing against coiled steel. occasionally, her chair creaks or her foot brushes against the floor. some songs wear a halo of birdsong or rainfall. fragments from the sessions—orphaned chords strummed in the silence before a take begins, the thunk of what might be fingers...
When I was little, he taught me everything he knew—basic chords but also chords and melodies that aren’t typical to learn in your first stages of playing guitar. He also had this way of recognizing his own shortcomings and bringing in teachers. My sister, brother, and I all took voice...