Page 39 - FLIPMAG.NET

PHOEBE BRIDGERS
© DAVID WOLFF-PATRICK • REDFERNS / GETTY IMAGES
“I like to write with my friends,” says Bridgers.
“I write with Conor all the time. I write with my
drummer Marshall. I need people to bounce stuff
off. When I collaborate with other people and
things aren’t up to me, decisions get made more
immediately. When it’s my decision, I’ll be like, ‘Oh,
I’ll think about that later’. But when you’re making a
record with someone else, you have to figure shit out!
“A lot of the Better Oblivion stuff was recorded
live, most of the Boygenius material was recorded live
or with light overdubs – it’s a different experience.
That changed the way that I think about making
records, which is very overdub-based. You get a click
track, and a vocal and then turn it into something.”
Of all the enriching collaborations Bridgers has
done, however, it’s the Boygenius EP and tour with
Baker and Dacus that stands out to her – a special
moment that she appreciates even more in retrospect.
“I feel like that was the high point of my life,
especially right now,” she says. “I was still excited
about playing bigger rooms than I’d played before,
and at the end of the night, I would go out on stage
with all my friends. Now I’m just chasing the dragon
to get back there – I hope to have more experiences
like that. It was so fun. I’ve never had an experience
that felt more like summer camp. I love that people
like it, because it was really important to us.”
The more Bridgers talks about collaboration, the
more evident it is that it’s fundamental to how she
wants to write and record music, whether it’s her
solo material or something with others.
“It’s fun to be surrounded by people who I can
just be comfortable with,” she says. “If I have a be-all
and end-all opinion about something, it’s my music,
whereas Conor and I would get into arguments and,
if we were collaborating, we’d just work it out. If it’s
my own music, I look to other people for help and
then ignore it if I don’t like it – and that’s no way to
be in a band.”
“THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT THE KEY OF MY
DANELECTRO, IT JUST MANAGES TO MAKE
EVERYTHING SOUND DARKER AND LESS
AMERICANA. I CAN WRITE FOLK SONGS ON
IT THAT SOUND NOTHING LIKE FOLK SONGS”
BETTER TOGETHER ABOVE On stage
When it came to writing Punisher, Bridgers turned with “secret weapon”
to Oberst, her drummer Marshall Vore, and longtime Harrison Whitford in
collaborator Christian Lee Hutson (whose latest solo Paris in 2017
album Northsiders she produced). These are her most OPPOSITE Bridgers’
trusted collaborators, and they allowed her to skip Danelectro baritone has
any pretence in the pursuit of making the record become a signature
she wanted. sound for the LA native
“If Marshall has a bad idea, I’m like, ‘Dude, that’s a
bad idea,’” she says, with a laugh. “But if I’m writing
with someone that I don’t fully trust, I’ll be more
like, ‘Oh my god, that’s so great,’ and then ignore
everything they said.”
Returning production duo Berg and Gruska were
also a key part of Phoebe’s vision, just as they were
with Stranger In The Alps.
“They’re amazing people for one but the main
thing that makes us really good collaborators is that
we have different skill sets,” says Bridgers. “Ethan has
a deep knowledge of synthesisers and is a keyboard
virtuoso but can also edit stuff for hours on end
without getting tired. Tony has worked on some
legendary records, is a crazy-good guitar player and
has a lot of weird and creative ideas, as well as a
collection of absurd instruments. It’s cool because
I’ll never be like that, so I need others around me
to be like that instead.”
Phoebe cites everything from Billie Eilish (“her
production is so cool”) to Guided By Voices, Caroline
Polachek, Mitski, and Big Thief as influences on
Punisher. But another key facet that makes it feel
resolutely like a Phoebe Bridgers record is the
wonderfully esoteric and original contributions
of guitarist Harrison Whitford.
GUITAR MAGAZINE 39