Released in June of 2020 in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, when Phoebe Bridgers had even more time to spend inside her own head, Punisher is a wrenching, unguardedly emotional listen even by the California singer/songwriter's own Sad Girl standards. 

Fraught with post-breakup blues, existential anomie and no-holds-barred depictions of personal depression -- and haunted by the death of Phoebe's beloved 16-year-old pug Max, to whom Punisher is dedicated -- it's not exactly a sunshine-y listen, but the ultimate effect of Bridgers's electro-haunted indie-folk is one of catharsis. A good cry once in awhile never hurts, after all. And what's often overlooked in discussions of Bridgers's two-album catalogue -- not to mention her work with Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus in Boygenius and with Bright Eyes's reigning Sad Boy Conor Oberst in Better Oblivion Community Center -- is that there's a sly sense of humour always lurking in the background. The title track, for instance, imagines her lingering far too long at the merch table after a show by the late Elliott Smith, one of her idols, while "Moon Song" takes a backhanded stab at Eric Clapton in the form of the lyric "We hate 'Tears In Heaven'/But it's sad his baby died." It's black humour, maybe, but there is humour there.

Also? Punisher has one of the best album covers ever.

TRACKLISTING:

1. DVD Menu
2. Garden Song
3. Kyoto
4. Punisher
5. Halloween
6. Chinese Satellite
7. Moon Song
8. Savior Complex
9. ICU
10. Graceland Too
11. I Know The End