Phoebe Bridgers – “Smoke Signals”

Phoebe Bridgers – “Smoke Signals”

You can learn a lot about Phoebe Bridgers’ sound by her associations. Ryan Adams produced and released her 2015 debut EP Killer, and she’s opening for Conor Oberst on a European tour this winter. Perhaps most pertinently, she also played some shows with Julien Baker, with whom she shares the ability to elicit maximum power from minimal balladry. Bridgers, just 22 years old, has a new single today, and it will stop your heart.

Bridgers wrote “Smoke Signals” in a cabin outside Ketchum, Idaho, last spring. It finds her somberly emoting against a backdrop of guitar chords and orchestral swells. Sometimes her words are poetic: “I wanna live at a Holiday Inn where somebody else makes the bed/ We’ll watch TV while the lights on the street put all the stars to death.” Other times she’s more straightforward but just as powerful: “All of our problems, I’m gonna solve them/ With you riding shotgun, speeding ’cause fuck the cops.” References to Bowie, the Smiths, and Motörhead might capture your attention, but the recurring image of trash burning on the beach is what will linger with you. Listen below.

“Smoke Signals” is out digitally 1/13 and available as a 7″ backed by “Motion Sickness (Demo)” at Bridgers’ upcoming shows. Speaking of which, here are those European dates supporting Conor Oberst:

01/17 Munich, DE @ Postpalast
01/18 Stuttgart, DE @ Theaterhaus
01/19 Vienna, AU @ Museumquarter
01/20 Zurich, CH @ Kaufleuten
01/21 Cologne, DE @ Gloria
01/23 Oslo, NO @ Rockefeller
01/24 Stockholm, SE @ Gota Lejon
01/25 Copenhagen, DK @ Bremen
01/26 Berlin, DE @ Apostel Paulus Kirch
01/28 Paris, FR @ La Maroquinerie
01/29 Utrecht, NL @ Hertz
01/30 Brussels, BE @ Ancienne Begique
02/01 London, UK @ Palladium
02/02 Manchester, UK @ Albert Hall
02/03 Edinburgh, UK @ Queens Hall
02/05 Dublin, IE @ Grand Canal Theatre

Phoebe Bridgers
CREDIT: Frank Ockenfels

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