Phoebe Bridgers is one of those musicians who can only be described as a phenomenon. At the time Stranger in the Alps was released, indie folk hadn’t quite made its way as a major genre in the United States. However, the music scene seems to have underwent a seismic shift in the year that followed, and she became one of the darlings of the Covid-19 era.

The most famous song on here is “Motion Sickness,” which is a great jam, but the album as a whole provides a touching, almost melancholic sound. In fact, pointing at sound alone (not lyrics) it wouldn’t be hard to argue that the album speaks to the grief and need for attachment that so many of us crave right now. After all, Bridgers and cottagecore seem to have taken off in tandem, although the two have little to do with one another.

When Bridgers performed a cover of Bo Burnham’s “That Funny Feeling,” it became clear that I wasn’t just reading the uncanny into Bridgers’ music. This is the cultural moment: strangeness, the bizarre, hypernormality, and the sense that things aren’t quite right.

This album rewards multiple listens: take your time with it.