#8 - Phoebe Bridgers - Stranger in the Alps

Phoebe Bridgers - Stranger in the Alps 

Dead Oceans, 2017

When it comes to Phoebe Bridgers, I always think about this line right before the first chorus of the Smiths’ “Sheila Take a Bow:” “How can someone so young write words so sad?” Despite being in her early twenties, Bridgers’ possesses the songwriting maturity of an artist twice her age, which is why I spent most of 2017 thinking she was an Aimee Mann type journeywoman finally breaking out. It took me a while to finally make it to Stranger in the Alps, but once I did I had to pull myself up off the floor. One of my favorite things to do when I was falling in love with this record (late Spring/early Summer 2018) was grab a couple of beers, put on my fancy headphones, and sit out in my backyard at night. That is as close as I get to meditation, and spending time with those songs was a gift. It’s a terrifying debut. If the first one is this good, watch out. Since Stranger’s release, Bridgers has done nothing but continue to exercise her prowess. There’s the Boygenius side project with fellow young songwriting powerhouses Julien Baker and Lucy Dacus (whose Sprained Ankle and Historian, respectively, were both shortlisted for this list) that delivered another Bridgers’ classic: “Me and My Dog.” There was her 2019 collaboration with Conor Oberst under the guise of Better Oblivion Community Center. There was the team-up with Matt Berninger of the National for “Walking on a String.” It’s all been gold. And that’s without even getting into Stranger in the Alps. What really sold me though was the Mark Kozalek cover (“You Missed My Heart”) that closes the album out. “You Missed My Heart” (a collaboration with The Album Leaf’s Jimmy LaValle) made my Songs of the Year list in 2013 and to hear it here of all places was baffling. It’s such a heartbreaking, sad, and beautiful story-song and Bridgers kills it. It’s better than the original in every way. And it’s such a strange way to end one’s debut. It’s just such a bold move and it’s absolutely perfect. It’s fitting though, considering how heartbreaking, sad, and beautiful these songs are (all no less on an album titled from a line from the TV edit of The Big Lebowski about what happens when you...fight a stranger in the Alps). The single “Motion Sickness” is the most spritely track of the bunch, and it’s fun to imagine someone coming in on that track and breaking down in tears halfway through “Funeral.” The nice thing about going all in on an artist this early is looking forward to decades of devastation.