Phoebe Bridgers


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Stranger in the Alps (2017), 6/10
Punisher (2020), 5/10
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Los Angeles' singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers, a member of Boygenius with Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus, debuted solo with Stranger in the Alps (2017), the work of an introspective artist who rarely focuses on the melody (Motion Sickness) and has a passion for the macabre (Killer, Funeral and Mark Kozelek's You Missed My Heart).

She formed Better Oblivion Community Center with Conor Oberst (Bright Eyes), which debuted with the album Better Oblivion Community Center (2019).

Punisher (2020) is a more confused work, with generally inferior material. Mostly it has bland songs with bland arrangements, and Garden Song (arranged by Christian Lee Hutson and Marshall Vore), Halloween (one of several collaborations with Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes), and Moon Song (pretty much the only song that is truly hers alone) are the least tedious. The one venture into heavily arranged power-pop, Kyoto (composed by Whispertown 2000's songwriter Morgan Nagler and by her drummer Marshall Vore), is almost an admission that the rest has a limited appeal. I Know the End is the only song that attains some kind of pathos, and it's another exception to the rule, with a rousing Pink Floyd-ian crescendo, thanks to the combined effort of composers and arrangers Hutson, Oberst and Vore.

Despite the hype, Boygenius's first full-length album, The Record (2023), was underwhelming.

(Copyright © 2020 Piero Scaruffi | Terms of use )