Conor Oberst – “LAX” (Feat. Phoebe Bridgers)
The excellent young singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers has talked in the past about how she was a huge Bright Eyes fan growing up and how the first time she met Conor Oberst was a huge thrill. And now she and Oberst are basically regular collaborators, which is awesome. Oberst duetted with Bridgers on “Would You Rather,” a song from her stunning debut album Stranger In The Alps. Bridgers, Oberst, and Soccer Mommy’s Sophie Allison all covered Sheryl Crow onstage in Brooklyn earlier this year. And now Bridgers is singing with Oberst on a new version of one of his songs.
This past summer, Oberst contributed a new song called “LAX” to the soundtrack of Juliet, Naked, a romantic comedy where Ethan Hawke played a mostly-unknown rocker. (Hawke sang the song in the movie.) And now Oberst has recorded a delicate, stripped-down new version of “LAX” for Amazon’s Produced By series.
The new series features Simone Felice, a member of the rootsy group the Felice Brothers. Simone produced a lovely, haunted version of “LAX” with Bridgers singing luminous backing vocals. Oberst and Bridgers might want to just make a whole collaborative record; they sound great together. Listen below.
The Juliet, Naked soundtrack is out now, and so is boygenius, the astonishing new EP that Bridgers made with Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus.