PHOEBE BRIDGERS - what's the deal?

i find it hard to get to the end of the record because i have to listen to "i see you" at least three times in a row before progressing

arrangement reminds me of neon bible (underrated)

That chord change 30 seconds or so before the end of Savior Complex!

that part where it briefly turns into 'what a wonderful world'?

Brad you should go back to stranger too

But yeah a few days on this album and even some of the less conspicuous tracks like Moon Song are revealing their richness. Helps to hear it in good sound quality.

i have gone back to stranger! it's a good record. this one's great

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/05/25/phoebe-bridgers-frank-anxious-music

Good interview here

Ah, twas mentioned earlier I see. Looking forward to playing this!

if you never get to the end of the record than you never get to the middle section of "I Know The End"

don't let that happen to you

horns on this remind me of Beulah at times.

agreed, that was my first reaction when i heard kyoto

"chinese satellite"! "i know the end"! idk if this is better than her debut but probably its equal

This seems better than her debut on first listen - I couldn't really get into Stranger aside from "Smoke Signals", "Motion Sickness" and "Scott Street".

Already love "I See You" and "Kyoto". "Chinese Satellite" is incredible, the careful plucking on "Halloween" is gorgeous imo and Oberst isn't on it long enough to be distracting, and I'm a sucker for pretty strings so "Savior Complex" is right up my street.

Still kinda meh about: "DVD Menu", "Garden Song"

update: the title track is perfect

The last two songs too.

"chinese satellite" is like a kathleen edwards-quality song

and "moon song" is 100 percent taylor swift

fucking incredible record jesus

if we were to pin boygenius songs to individual songwriters my favorite phoebe bridgers song would be "me & my dog" and she wrote an album full of songs as good or better than that one

this list gets the top 3 right:

https://www.pastemagazine.com/music/best/phoebe-bridgers-songs-boygenius-bocc/

you called me on a payphone
they still got payphones
it costs a dollar a minute

That's about her dad, right?

I’m on my first listen but so far making me feel like the early 00s is starting to come back into vogue? Reminding me of songwritery albums from that era.

xpost yes, she confirmed in something i read

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/05/25/phoebe-bridgers-frank-anxious-music

here ^

I hear that early 2000s thing too. Big Sufjan/Polyphonic Spree vibes from 'I Know The End'.

"I Know The End" sounds most like Bright Eyes tbh, just with a much better singer lol. Amazing song though, that closing verse is incredible.

i don't really like the horns on this album that much because they reminds me of bombastic 00s indie folk in a way that conflicts with the things i like about this album

even on kyoto?

especially on kyoto

gasp!

😱

i love the horns. i love the ending of i know the end too.

i listened to this while jogging today and yesterday. i think it's a masterpiece and an album i'll be listening to 20 years from now.

one of the reviews i saw compared "I Know the End" to the last track on Lifted

xxxxpost to Roz

Early favorites: "Garden Song," "Moon Song," and "Punisher."

Fantastic stuff. Huge step up from the first album imo, in terms of - well, in terms of nearly everything. Lyrics, consistency of sound not for the sake of it, not monotonous but because it builds towards something, creates a whole of an arc, and a hugely impressive one. 'I Know the End' is killer, and such a release!

Only quip is that the sonics of 'Garden Song' don't sit well with me at all! Listening through headphones, the warbly sound makes me feel seasick lol.

@LBI, was just thinking how much I love 'Garden Song' but that the soft but persistent pulse underlying everything makes me a bit anxious.

The sound on this is really weird in general, like everything is slushed together in the mix and backgrounded and then her voice is absolutely front-and-centre and crystal clear over it all.

otm

maybe that's what's been keeping me at arm's length idk

Yup

this is going to be one of those ilx mixing discussions i can't parse

record sounds amazing imo

Listening now and the kick in Garden Song is sidechained and heavily muffled, it's the sort of pulse you feel in your chest* more than hear, early-00s Kompakt did that a lot but it feels weird it hearing it in this context.

*FWIW that's clearly deliberate given the lyrics and I think it works.

It also think it's deliberate and applaud her for it, it just makes me - I should have said this earlier, obviously - 'motion sick' :)

No related problems whatsoever w/ the rest of the album.

yeah it's def designed to be as unsettling as it is lovely

To be clear, "everything is slushed together in the mix and backgrounded and then her voice is absolutely front-and-centre and crystal clear over it" I consider a compliment.

yeah the more i read that and listen along with the record i agree, though also i feel like "graceland too" and "savior complex" are too spacious and sparkling to be slushed together

it's a really good atmosphere the built around these songs, cloudy and clear in just the right amounts, and when the clouds appear they're huge cf. all the production touches on the title track

i love the muted instrumentation on "halloween," feels like i never hear an actual guitar note, just this weird space between note and harmonic