Better Oblivion Community Center

Conor Oberst and Phoebe Bridgers make up the American indie rock supergroup Better Oblivion Community Center. On January 24, 2019, Dead Oceans released their self-titled debut album. Oberst and Bridgers met for the first time in July 2016. Oberst invited Bridgers to perform and was so impressed that he asked her to send him the record she was working on right away. She then opened for him on his European Ruminations tour in January 2017, and they worked together on and off for the next two years. He brought her on stage to sing the Bright Eyes song "Lua" at WXPN's Xponential Music Festival that July, he sang on the duet "Would You Rather" from her debut Stranger in the Alps in September, and they covered Sheryl Crow with Soccer Mommy at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in February 2018, and they worked together on a new version of his song "LAX" for Amazon Music in October, among numerous other joint appearances at each other’s shows across the U.S.

Better Oblivion Community Center was released on January 24, 2019, by Dead Oceans to generally positive reviews. The album was teased with "cryptic brochures" and a phone hotline, but it was released with only a day's notice and no promotional singles. The day before the album's release, they performed "Dylan Thomas" on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, and on January 26 they appeared on CBS This Morning, where they performed "Dylan Thomas", "Didn't Know What I Was in For", and "My City". They also shot a segment at NPR's Tiny Desk. On January 29, 2019, the band announced their expansive concert tour of the U.S. and Europe, along with releasing a music video for their single, "Dylan Thomas", directed by Michelle Zauner, otherwise known as Japanese Breakfast. Toward the end of their U.S. tour in April 2019, they released the single "Little Trouble", a song not featured on the album that had previously only been available as a 7-inch vinyl they'd been selling at their shows. With their efforts, they received the AIM Awards for Best Independent Album in 2019 and the Libera Awards for Marketing Genius in 2020.

Origin: Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres: Indie rock, indie folk, alternative
Year of the start of operation: 2018