Gracie Abrams Good Riddance [2xLP]

Her debut full-length Good Riddance dives deeper into personal accountability and sincere reflection on the fallout of complex relationships, revealing more of Abrams than ever before.

Undeniably, there are tracks on Good Riddance that show Abrams’ and Dessner’s ability to tap into something especially profound. “Amelie” is bewitching, capturing a sense of aching beauty that stands out amongst the album’s more passive moments. Against a simple, finger-picked acoustic guitar and foggy piano notes, Abrams’ voice breaks with a post-cry elegance; recorded in just one take, she sings, “I met a girl once/She sorta ripped me open…Why’d it feel louder/When all of it went unspoken/All I can do is hope that this’ll go away.” The song is a misty balance of the universal and the personal, leaving one commenter on Abrams’ Instagram announcement to ask earnestly, “Okay but does anyone know what this song’s about?” To dip so eloquently into one’s psychic interiors—only to pull away from the last few details—resembles the sense of longing Abrams identifies in herself. In this context, “Amelie” could be anyone: a past lover, a lost childhood friend, an alter ego.

 — Pitchfork