Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers debuted their new project, Better Oblivion Community Center, on Late Night with Stephen Colbert Wednesday. After teasing their collaboration for the past several days, Oberst and Bridgers’s new indie super duo performed the excellent “Dylan Thomas” off their self-titled surprise album.
The record’s theme seems to revolve around a satirical assisted living facility/wellness spa, and the duo really leaned in to that concept during their late night debut by framing the performance as an old infomercial complete with cheap graphics, grainy film stock, and a flashing 1-800 number. There are also a couple fun shots of the duo as audience members who are delighted to discover they are on camera. Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner and Jack White drummer Carla Azar joined Oberst and Bridgers onstage for the performance.
According to an interview with Rolling Stone, Oberst and Bridgers’s collaboration gelled last summer when the Bright Eyes frontman happened to be tripping on mushrooms. The pair were friends and have performed together over the years, but the two committed to forming a band together while Oberst was spending time with Bridgers and her friends in Los Angeles. The two said they managed to write the song “Chesapeake” while Oberst was in the altered state.
“We were like, ‘Conor is completely out of his mind, and he’s crushing it right now!” Bridgers told Rolling Stone.
Better Oblivion Community Project will also be announcing a tour at an unspecified date.
