a b c d Sodomsky, Sam (January 25, 2019). "Better Oblivion Community Center: Better Oblivion Community Center Album Review". Pitchfork . Retrieved January 25, 2019. Serota, Maggie (January 24, 2019). "Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers Perform as Better Oblivion Community Center on Colbert". Spin . Retrieved January 24, 2019. Trendell, Andrew (January 29, 2019). "Phoebe Bridgers and Conor Oberst share 'Dylan Thomas' video and announce Better Oblivion Community Center UK and world tour". NME . Retrieved February 22, 2019. Phoebe: Yeah, we didn’t know if it would be a single or an EP or what, but we knew we wanted to try writing together and for it to have its own identity with a band name.

Lynch, Ben (January 24, 2019). "Behind the smoke and mirrors, Better Oblivion Community Center is a melancholic delight". The Line of Best Fit . Retrieved January 30, 2019. He wasn’t kidding. After some trying years, Oberst’s recent work has been a vessel for stark, existential unburdening. On 2016’s Ruminations and its 2017 companion Salutations, he funneled first-person accounts of grief, depression, insomnia, paranoia, court appearances, and hospital visits into his most vivid and unsettled music in years. Drawing a direct line to the shaky downer anthems that made Bright Eyes an influence for so many young artists—Bridgers included—these newer songs sounded exhaustive and raw, like there was a punchline at the very bottom of all his anxieties and he’d dig through them like a pile of dirty laundry to uncover it. Conor Oberst – vocals (1–10), guitar (1, 2, 4, 7–9), baritone guitar (3), piano (4, 10), keyboards (5), Whirly tube (7); production, photography a b Walker-Smart, Sam (January 24, 2019). "Better Oblivion Community Center - Better Oblivion Community Center". Clash . Retrieved January 24, 2019. I wanted to talk about “Dylan Thomas” cuz that’s the first single, right? It’s the first single and the last song you wrote for the album. There’s a lot of death and ghosts on the album, and mentions of illness and feeling unwell and being anxious - and those are things you’ve both written about a lot - which is partly why this collaboration works so well. Dylan Thomas, we all know, is the esteemed Welsh poet who died in 1953 at the age of 39. He’s mentioned for ‘dying on the barroom floor’ and you know, he was definitely a big drinker. He was drinking at the White Horse in the West Village every night he was in New York before he died. And he fell into a coma at the Chelsea Hotel and died soon after at Saint Vincent’s on 8th Avenue. Did you know that he actually died of emphysema, pneumonia and bronchitis? And that in November 1953, the month he died, over 200 people died in New York City from air pollution? He probably died from smog.Phoebe: We knew we wanted to play with a band, so we kept that in mind while we were writing stuff. I guess my last question is do you think this is a one off or do you think there will be more Better Oblivion Community Center albums to follow? Right, and so you guys would show up and guest at shows. And you’re on Phoebe’s song “Would You Rather”. So really early on you started collaborating on music, right? That was kind of an immediate spark, this instinct to perform and sing together. And your voices, they really compliment one another. There’s something really special about when you duet. Particularly when you sing in unison, it really works. Phoebe, you have a really sweet, crystal clear voice and Conor, yours is more world weary and raspy, so there’s something really striking about them together. The album had an elaborate rollout featuring cryptic brochures and a telephone hotline. [6] They performed "Dylan Thomas" on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on January 23, 2019. [7] The album was released the next day. Music critics have spilled a lot of ink over your guys work. I’m not even gonna try. But can you describe each other’s song writing in three words?

It’s got a sort of grunge vibe. Did you know that in dream analysis the color yellow is symbolic of intellect, energy, agility, happiness, harmony, and wisdom? Finn, Rachel (January 24, 2019). "Better Oblivion Community Center - Better Oblivion Community Center". DIY . Retrieved January 24, 2019.Phoebe Bridgers Chart History (Top Americana/Folk Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved November 14, 2020. Yeah! Burmese. Right?And then you tagged your location but later on you typed those characters into Google Translate and it turned out not to be tagged from “Forest Lawn”. It actually translated as “Better Oblivion Community Center”. Is that right?

Manno, Lizzie (January 24, 2019). "Phoebe Bridgers and Conor Oberst Surprise-Drop New Collaboration Album, Better Oblivion Community Center". Paste. Archived from the original on April 20, 2019 . Retrieved January 24, 2019. The album is a loose concept album about the Better Oblivion Community Center, a fictional dystopian wellness facility. [6] Release and promotion [ edit ] Schatz, Lake (January 24, 2019). "Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers release surprise collaborative album Better Oblivion Community Center: Stream". Consequence of Sound . Retrieved January 24, 2019.

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So then you guys would guest at each others shows, right? And Conor, you were spending a lot of time in Los Angeles around this time. Cuz you’ve been in Omaha mostly the past few years but you have a spot in LA, on the West Side. Did you guys ever sit down and talk about themes or how you wanted the album to sound? Did you discuss what kind of songs they’d be or did you just sit down and start writing to see what would happen?