Adrianne Lenker lays down her guitar in favour of a beautiful piano ballad with her new track “Ruined.”
“Ruined,” released on Dec. 5th, is Adrianne Lenker’s newest single. The track is the first solo release for Lenker – who is also the frontwoman for the band Big Thief, since the debut of her sixth studio album, “Songs,” in 2020. Recorded by Philip Weinrobe, a long-time collaborator and the producer of her past two records, “Ruined” is just a sneak peek at the brand-new album Lenker plans to release in the new year.
Quiet and affecting, “Ruined” is organized around a simple piano track that underscores Lenker’s haunting vocals. While “Ruined” is a love song, Lenker’s raw and quivering voice suggests that the song is about more than just a stereotypical romance. The scant and cryptic lyrics make it hard to determine what makes this romance so different.
Meandering from one end of the keyboard to the other, Lenker skirts the perimeter of a story she seems content not to elucidate. Details of a gifted amethyst and a basement fern only cloud the narrative. The chorus, “So much coming through, every hour too / Can’t get enough of you / You come around, I’m ruined / You come around, I’m ruined,” strikes the listener as a mantra.
“Ruined” differs entirely from the guitar-heavy folk songs that Lenker has put out on her past albums. Instead, the track sounds more like a ballad. It spotlights the danger of obsessive rumination, painting the picture of love taking a downward spiral that isn’t easy to escape. Every time she thinks she is getting better, her lover reappears, and all that she has built is ruined once again.
However, the quiet and melancholy tone of the song does not signify any kind of restlessness or need to escape. Instead, Lenker seems resigned to the position she has found herself stuck in. It is her life. She can’t get enough of her love, so she can’t get out even if she wants to.
The track is relatively short, made up almost in its entirety of the chorus lines. One can’t help but feel this repetition acts as a metaphor for Lenker’s lover, who reappears “every hour” to break her even further. It could also be a reminder of what she is living through – something she mutters under her breath to keep herself sane. The true meaning may forever remain a mystery, but Lenker’s lyrical brilliance paints a foggy picture of love and loss.
Atmospherically tied together by her fragile, whimpering vocals, “Ruined” is a song driven by vulnerability. Lenker displays herself to her lover and the listener, telling a story of heartbreak and wonder.
If “Ruined” is any indication of what Adrianne Lenker’s new album might sound like, great things are in store.
