Better Oblivion hits the end of the road
building downtown. Though that endeavor concluded in 2011, similarly cultish adverts began to appear in Los Angeles and elsewhere last December promoting “true bliss” and referencing the curiously named Better Oblivion Community Center.
In this case, interested parties were rewarded with the information that this was no New Age healing center — it was a new band featuring Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers.
When the pair perform as Better Oblivion Community Center at the Outside Lands Music & Arts Festival on Saturday, Aug. 10, (and again for a festivalsanctioned Night Show at the Independent on Sunday, Aug. 11) it will serve as a victory lap following a spring of heavy touring in the U.S. and Europe.
For Bridgers, 24, the occasion will also mark her inaugural performance at the expansive outdoor venue, though the Pasadena native recalls making the trip to the Bay Area with family throughout her childhood.
“This will be my first time playing Golden Gate Park, although I’ve gone to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass as a kid since I was like 11. I went to Outside Lands a couple of times as a fan, too,” Bridgers says.
Bridgers might not have many venues left to play for the first time following twoplus years of nonstop touring. She’s gone straight from doing shows for her solo record to recording and playing with the band Boygenius (along with Lucy Dacus and Julien Baker). Now she’s back at it once more with Better Oblivion.
For Oberst, 39, Golden Gate Park is a cherished stomping ground. He’s helped with the programming at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass for years in the form of his “Conor Oberst Brings Friends” sets, bringing bands like First Aid Kit, the Felice Brothers and Hop Along to the city. (Oberst confirmed that due to his Outside Lands performance he plans to take a break from curating the Hardly Strictly stage this October.)
“It’s such a beautiful place to play,” he says. “I was really lucky for all those years to have a stage at Hardly Strictly to curate. That was always one of my favorite weekends for the year, just having all my friends play and being in that magical spot.”
Better Oblivion Community Center’s eponymous debut, released Jan. 24, is 10 tracks of confessional folkrock that showcase both artists’ talents. It also has an easy familiarity that gives listeners the impression that Oberst and Bridgers have been playing together forever.
The pair first met at a secret showcase in Los Angeles in 2016. Bridgers professed her admiration for Oberst — best known for his work under the moniker Bright Eyes — and it turned out the feeling was mutual. Oberst would go on to guest on a song on Bridgers’ debut record, 2017’s “Stranger in the Alps” before the two convened to record Better Oblivion Community Center’s first album last year.
One of the record’s most compelling qualities is how it effortlessly vacillates between moments of gloom and pure catharsis. The best example might be “My City,” a cut that finds the two (they almost always sing in unison) comparing their town to a “monolith” or a “crowded movie” before erupting into a liberating crescendo of percussion and distortion. It’s a potent yet profound note on a record that’s full of memorable moments.
“I think it’s kind of my goto,” Bridgers says, “like the whisperscream format. But I don’t know. You do it because you like it.”
Oberst acknowledges the time the two have shared on the road has allowed their songs to further evolve.
“We keep talking about how we sort of wish we could record the record again,” he explains, “now that we’ve been in a band for a couple of tours. I think the live version is actually a little more of what we intended when we were trying to make the record.”
The pair say they’ll miss the camaraderie when they do go their separate ways following this weekend in San Francisco. They’ve had quite a bit of fun on this tour — like the time they decided to perform a cover of “Shallow,” the smash hit featured in the latest iteration of “A Star Is Born,” for their show at Brooklyn Steel in April.
Though Oberst says he had to be “talked into that one pretty hard,” Bridgers suggests that her bandmate is “just trying to hide his true feelings about it.”
“Conor literally begged me to do it,” she says with a laugh. “I definitely got to a certain kind of goose bumps when Conor did his flawless Bradley CooperdoingEddie Vedder voice.”
With no way to know when the next viral pop song might emerge and demand a Better Oblivion Community Center cover, the pair says they aren’t calling it quits just yet. Instead, both members are poised to take a substantial hiatus from Better Oblivion Community Center while they turn their attention to other projects.
“This is like tacked on,” Bridges says of the band’s Outside Lands date. “We didn’t really intend to do anything over the summer, but this sounded so fun. We were going to end after the tour, so this has a bittersweet, summercamprevisited feel to it.”
“I’m glad we get to do it again because everyone was definitely sad when we had to say goodbye after our Europe run,” Oberst adds. “Speaking for myself, I’m definitely open to it in the future. Hard to say what the future holds, but if there are any promoters out there listening that just want to offer us tons and tons of money, feel free to send the offer over. We’ll entertain it.”