Phoebe Bridgers has a thing for supergroups. She followed up her Boygenius team-up by pairing with indie singer-songwriter Conor Oberst to form the band Better Oblivion Community Center.

Oberst, the one-man band behind Bright Eyes, also has a thing for supergroups. He released a great album in 2009 as Monsters of Folk, alongside Jim James of My Morning Jacket and singer-songwriter M. Ward.

Bridgers and Oberst became friends and occasional collaborators in 2016 and in 2018 started writing songs together in earnest. At first they thought those songs would end up on each other’s solo albums, or perhaps be given to other artists, but before long they realized they had am album’s worth of material.

They decided to record as a new entity to remove the project from the expectations of their solo work, and came up with the name Better Oblivion Community Center because they felt it evoked the idea of optimism in the face of impending doom.

This album does stand out as distinct from either artist’s usual output. It’s more upbeat and more political. The blend of Bridgers’ sadly beautiful voice and Oberst’s earnest rasp really hits a sweet spot.

As far as I know, this was a one-off and the duo have no plans to release more material under this band name. But I’d certainly welcome a Volume 2.