Calling a song re-imagined when it’s never seen an official release doesn’t seem to make sense, but that’s exactly what’s happening in the case of the first single from Phoebe Bridgers’ debut full-length, Stranger In the Alps (due September 22 via Dead Oceans).
UPDATE: We now have a Justin Mitchell-directed music video for "Motion Sickness," and it finds Bridgers playing a Razor-riding, helmet-wearing Karoke killer. "I've had the idea for this video since before recording 'Motion Sickness,'" Bridgers said in a press release. "Probably inspired by my brother Jackson singing 'Down With the Sickness' to me in karaoke with 100% commitment in an orange jumpsuit." Watch it below.
“Motion Sickness” originally made the rounds on YouTube as a solo guitar, open-tuned, melancholy jam that spun around themes of longing, bitterness, remorse and acceptance. It wore the sad sonic tenets of a one-off single (“Smoke Signals,” which actually appears on Stranger, too), but this new version finds the Los Angeles songwriter teaming up with a band for a take that’s been muscled up by drums, pop guitars and sweet synth all without sacrificing the song’s gorgeous melodies and confessional lyrics.
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Some of that metamorphosis probably has to do with producer and Belle Brigade singer-songwriter Ethan Gruska who co-produced Stranger In the Alps along with Tony Berg (Aimee Mann, Public Image Ltd., Air Supply).
“Ethan has an encyclopedic knowledge of synthesizers and stuff, which I don’t have but am so fascinated by it. I love learning about it and love learning new weird pedal things,” Bridgers, 22, told CL in a March interview before her set at Gasparilla Music Festival.
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Here's a haunting video of Phoebe Bridgers playing "Smoke Signals" for NPR Music
“I was kind of like put into a folk category which of course I still love and am still influenced by, but the record is full of weird stuff. We did some of the weirdest stuff for sound and used super-crazy vintage drum machines. It’s just kind of all over the place production-wise. There is one song that is straight-up folk, but even that one has some crazy backwards cello thing on it. So yeah, I feel like it’s representative of my tastes.”
Watch the Stranger In the Alps version of the single (directed by Bridgers’ brother, Jackson Bridgers) along with the album’s tracklist below. Call your local record store to see if it’ll carry the release.
Phoebe Bridgers — Stranger In the Alps Tracklist
01. Smoke Signals
02. Motion Sickness
03. Funeral
04. Demi Moore
04. Scott Street
05. Killer
06. Georgia
07. Chelsea
08. Would You Rather
09. You Missed My Heart
10. Smoke Signals (Reprise)
This article appears in Aug 3-10, 2017.