Since sharing “Garden Song” a few weeks back, we’ve been waiting for Phoebe Bridgers to reveal more about her new music, and today she has delivered the goods. She will be releasing a new album called Punisher on June 19, and has given us the song “Kyoto” to listen to now. Bridgers says of the new track:
“This song is about impostor syndrome. About being in Japan for the first time, somewhere I’ve always wanted to go, and playing my music to people who want to hear it, feeling like I’m living someone else’s life. I dissociate when bad things happen to me, but also when good things happen. It can feel like I’m performing what I think I’m supposed to be like. I wrote this one as a ballad first, but at that point I was so sick of recording slow songs, it turned into this.”
Given the source of inspiration for the song, “Kyoto” is surprisingly upbeat, jogging along on guitars and synths, hitting a full-on sprint in the horn-imbued chorus. As ever with Bridgers, there is darkness within the lyrics, along with plenty of expression of lessons learned, and just a downright coolness to the way she carries it all off.
Phoebe Bridgers’ new album Punisher comes out through Dead Oceans on June 19 – pre-order/pre-save here.
