I love Phoebe Bridgers. I love Matt Berninger. So, when an image of the two of them – flanked by Mike Brewer, Walter Martin and Matt Barrick – dressed up in Western clobber, with a caption explaining they have written a song together, I quite frankly shat my self with excitement.
The song features in the new Netflix film, Between Two Ferns: The Movie, a mockumentary where Zach Galifianakis hits the road, conducting celebrity interviews in order to restore his reputation and earn a coveted TV network contract. The film ultimately turns into a coming of age story as Galifianakis and his misfit crew realise they don’t want the perfect Hollywood, late-night TV show they so desperately crave at the start. In fact, their mediocre studio, online status and Galifianakis’ awkward personality is perfect for them. Along the way, he insults Marvel stars and sleeps with John Legend’s wife – it’s all very daft. Proper daft. Funny in parts, it’s nothing special, but it passes the time on a long-haul flight.
About half-way through, the awkward foursome that makes up Galifianakis’ roadtrippin’ film crew are sat in a dive bar, having a bee, as the local house band plays in the background. The local house band? Phoebe Bridgers, Matt Berninger and Co., all in their cowboy costumes. The snippet of the song sounds how you’d expect it to. Slow and sombre, Phoebe’s vocal is stunning. Berninger’s verse appears later, unsurprisingly as Galifianakis’ loses his shit during a thunderstorm. Nobody does sadness and darkness like our Matt.
It’ll be interesting to hear the two harmonise more on the full version, with both Berninger and Bridgers having dabbled in harmonising this year – Berninger with a whole host of brilliant female vocalists on The National’s most recent album, and Bridgers on her latest project, Better Oblivion Community Center, with Conor Oberst.
Listen to Phoebe Bridgers on Spotify and Apple Music, and The National on Spotify and Apple Music also.
