It’s a bold move to reference both Phoebe Bridgers and Elliott Smith in your song’s title, but damn if Kalina Tyne doesn’t have us absolutely, utterly enchanted with her brutally honest and softly cinematic new indie folk anthem.
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Stream: “Phoebe & Elliott” – Kalina Tyne
I wanted to represent Bridgers and Smith, bringing in Smith’s rich acoustic guitar tones and Bridgers’ siren-esque soft vocals, creating an atmospheric tribute to the record’s namesakes.
It’s an undeniably bold move to reference both Phoebe Bridgers and Elliott Smith in your song’s title,
and someone else might not have been able to pull it off as convincingly or effectively – but damn if Kalina Tyne doesn’t have us absolutely, utterly enchanted. Out October 28, “Phoebe & Elliott” is the LA and Nashville-based singer/songwriter’s second single of the year, in fact following yet another “name-drop” of sorts: This past March saw the release of her song, “Chandler Bing.”
Tyne seems to have a pattern for eye-catching track names; in fact, she says that writing “Chandler Bing” spawned a series of videos featuring songs named for other various sitcom characters and celebrities (Bridgers and Smith included).” Sure, it’s a healthy dose of clickbait, but to be quite frank, we’re okay with it – mainly because Tyne’s haunting, lush indie folk is all-killer, no filler: Intimate emotional outpourings wash over the ears in waves of softly stirring guitars and vocals that rise to a fever pitch in immersive choruses aching with the sweet rush of cathartic release. So what if the song name is as catchy as the music itself? This is clickbait done right; we’re glad we pressed play.
Almost instantly, “Phoebe & Elliott” whisks listeners into Tyne’s nostalgic, wistful reverie:
I used to ride around town with the windows down
40 minute commute from work to my house
And the house was a room in Toluca Hills
And the work was unpaid but I did it still
And I’d play all of the songs that you sent to me
Even picture you sitting in the passenger seat
Looking back on it now, what a sad, sad mix
Phoebe Bridgers and Elliott Smith
The song finds Tyne dwelling in her memory’s depths – reminiscing “on a time when you’d change everything about yourself to be liked,” she explains – and ultimately recognizing how much her present-day self is different from the person in her past. As such, “Phoebe & Elliott” is a letting go of sorts – a song about outgrowing your past self, and a release of that special person the artist used to love and live for – the one who, per the first verse, turned her on to “sad folk” artists like Phoebe Bridgers and Elliott Smith.
Tyne channels the spirit of Bridgers and Smith in her song’s dazzling chorus:
All day, all night, I kept you on my mind
I tried, oh i tried, to be the kind of cool you like
And it’s sad but it’s true, I think I outgrew you
I don’t fit in your world like I used to
To Tyne’s credit, this song is the kind of cool we like: Brutally honest and softly cinematic.
“‘Phoebe & Elliott’ is a song about looking back at the person you once were and realizing how much you’ve grown, how you don’t try to change yourself to get people to like you anymore,” Tyne tells Atwood Magazine. “Creating the song was seamless and cathartic. My producer Diego Ferrera and I nearly finished the whole track in our first session ever together. He completely understood the vision, stacked the track with driving electric guitars and drums, encouraged me to layer as many harmonies and ad-libs as I wanted (the session is HUGE, there are so many vocal layers), and thickened the track with dial tones, pen-scribbling, and other symbolic foley sounds.”
I got the Fender Stratocaster that we talked about
Would’ve sent you a picture but we don’t talk now
And I’ve long since moved from Toluca Hills
You’ve never seen this room and probably never will
And I listen to the songs that I’ve always liked
But was a little too afraid to admit it and I
Can’t help but shudder when I reminisce
On who I was back then
She continues, “I love the whole track, but my favorite part of the song comes at the end, when the heavy instrumentation fades out into an acoustic outro ornamented with vocoder harmonies and a Mellotron. Creating the outro expanded my musical experimentation and allowed me to tap into acknowledging the “muses” of the song (Bridgers and Smith). The majority of the track is of course supposed to sound like a “Kalina Tyne” song, but with the outro I wanted to represent Bridgers and Smith, bringing in Smith’s rich acoustic guitar tones and Bridgers’ siren-esque soft vocals, creating an atmospheric tribute to the record’s namesakes.”
Props to Kalina Tyne for going for it and nailing the landing. Phoebe Bridgers and Elliott Smith would be proud; this is one hot song we’ll be listening to on repeat through the cold, dark winter months ahead.
All day, all night, I kept you on my mind
I tried, oh i tried, to be the kind of cool you like
And it’s sad but it’s true, I think I outgrew you
I don’t fit in your world like I used to
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Stream: “Phoebe & Elliott” – Kalina Tyne
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