Ahead of next month’s sold-out world tour, newly appointed indie superstar Phoebe Bridgers has shared three remixes of her hit Punisher track “Kyoto.” Out now on Dead Oceans, the “Kyoto” remixes feature Glitch Gum, Bartees Strange and The Marias all adding their signature touches to the track. Each artist was hand-picked by Bridgers, and gave a brief comment about their contributions:
Glitch Gum:
All I know is one day, when I was in between Zoom classes last Fall, I thought, “Man, what if Phoebe Bridgers did hyperpop?” That idea turned into a 30-second snippet of “Kyoto,” which turned into a full song, which turned into working with Phoebe and her team to make this little quarantine project come full circle in ways I could never even fathom. It was so fun deconstructing the musical realms of both Phoebe and I and combining them into something that filled the hyperpop-indie-crossover-shaped hole in my brain. I am just really happy with how it turned out and forever thankful for Phoebe, her friends, and their continuous support.
Bartees Strange:
I wanted to find a way to make this song hit in a completely different way, but still retain some of the big and small moments that make the song special to me. At first I was thinking through how I could use the stems, but the more I got into it the more I wanted to take it somewhere else entirely. Crushing tune, glad I could mess around with it.
The Marias:
I remember seeing Phoebe years ago at an open mic here in Los Angeles, and I knew right off the bat that she was really special. Working on this remix was a sort of full circle moment for us. “Kyoto” is an amazing song as-is, so with the remix we were just curious to see what it would sound like with the vocal slowed down and adding some of our favorite synth sounds behind it.
Hear the Glitch Gum, Bartees Strange and The Marias remixes below, and further down, check out the video for the original “Kyoto” and revisit Phoebe Bridgers’ 2017 Paste Studio performance of “Motion Sickness.”