What happens when a Grammy Award-winning artist, one of the most anticipated albums of the year and a planetarium collide? This week the small city of Armagh found out. It's been six years since songwriter Phoebe Bridgers last released an album, so the release of Lost Weekend on Friday marks, as The Guardian says, a "long-awaited return", external.
Since her last record, the critically acclaimed Punisher, she's recorded and toured with Grammy Award-winning supergroup boygenius, as well as navigating grief after the death of her father. And now, in the days leading up to Lost Weekend's release, she's giving a handful of fans an "immersive" audio-visual experience at planetariums across the world. Only two venues in the UK - Glasgow and Armagh - were chosen to take part.
The Lost Weekend Planetarium show, external combines curated, nocturnal scenes by National Geographic night-sky photographer Babak Tafreshi with the 16-track record. The Armagh Planetarium hosted four, sold-out showings on Tuesday, and another four will be held on Thursday. A phone free event, attendees have to put their devices into a pouch, which can only be opened by a magnet after the event is over.
Critics have described Lost Weekend - as a "daring exploration of love, grief and renewal, external,", external alternately spooky, hilarious, mysterious and sneakily moving, external and worth the wait, external as well as "staggering and stirring". , external Some lyrics make reference to Bridgers' engagement, and eventual break-up, with Irish actor Paul Mescal, and the record is dedicated to her father, who died a few years ago. Sisters Eibhlin and Emma were among the 80-strong crowd in the event's first screening. The pair had an immediate one-word review: "Amazing." "Before this, we had only heard one song so the whole rest of it was completely fresh and new and the visuals were amazing," Eiblin said.
"There were times I thought that the visuals linked really well to the music and the lyrics so it was just a really cool experience," Emma added. However, time will tell whether it comes up top in their album rankings. "I think you couldn't rank it after listening to it once, that's too hard.
I need to focus harder next time to rank," Eibhlin explained. Emma added: "I felt like it had a rockier, or even a folk sound to it which I really liked, that it was really cool. "When it comes out properly then we can dissect the lyrics and see." For fans like Kev, who were lucky enough to be at the event, the album's themes played well into the spatial experience.
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