Nebraska

There are no winners in *Nebraska*—a bleak sonic landscape where America’s dispossessed are ground into dust by social forces beyond their control. There’s the drifting murderer of the title track; a child whose family slaves away beneath a “Mansion On the Hill”; and a hard-luck guy forced to kill for the mob in “Atlantic City.” Springsteen’s darkest record is also his sparest: just voice and guitar lost in a sea of lonely reverb. There\'s an almost bone-chilling starkness to these songs, but they\'re deeply moving too.

Each Sunday, Pitchfork takes an in-depth look at a significant album from the past, and any record not in our archives is eligible. Today, we explore the solitary sound of the incomparable Nebraska.

Check out our album review of Artist's Nebraska on Rolling Stone.com.

But Bruce Springsteen was the first person to act on that theory, when he opted to release the demo versions of his latest songs, recorded with only acoustic or electric guitar, harmonica, and vocals, as his sixth album, Nebraska.