Rob Moose Phoebe Bridgers
photo by Shervin Lainez

Phoebe Bridgers and Rob Moose team up for new orchestral version of rarity "Wasted"

Even if you don’t know Rob Moose by name, there’s a very good chance you’ve heard his work. The multi-instrumentalist, arranger, and yMusic member has worked with too many top-tier indie artists to count, some of whom appear on his upcoming EP Inflorescence, including Phoebe Bridgers, Bon Iver, Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard, and more. (Other artists whose albums feature arrangements and/or instrumentation by Rob include Sufjan Stevens, The National, St. Vincent, ANOHNI, Perfume Genius, FKA twigs, Paul Simon, Taylor Swift, The Killers, and truly countless others.) Rob recently released lead single “Bend But Never Break” ft. Brittany Howard, and today he releases “Wasted” ft. Phoebe Bridgers.

“Wasted” is actually a song written by Phoebe’s frequent collaborator Marshall Vore that Phoebe released a lo-fi demo of back in 2015, even before she released her debut album, and has performed a few times over the years. She and Rob turn it into an atmospheric, orchestral indie pop song, similar to what they did on their collaborative 2020 EP Copycat Killer. Rob says:

“Wasted” came my way in 2019. I first started to tinker with it on a retreat to Orcas Island, with snow out the window and no helpful instruments nearby. Progress came slowly, but I managed to arrange and record what felt like a rough demo of the first verse and chorus before flying home. When I opened up the song again in New York, I felt like the song was ready for a major shift. I kept working on it in bursts and stepping away, a process that was new for me. Hundreds of hours and several hiatuses later, Phoebe resang the vocal, and “Wasted” began its new life.

Phoebe adds, “Rob is my son. That’s an inside joke but there is a deeper connection we share musically which resembles being blood related.”

The song comes with a video directed by Peter Cerrito, who says, “Creating the music video for ‘Wasted’ was an exercise in spontaneity. In my first three months in Los Angeles I found myself living with Phoebe’s bandmate in Silverlake. Once she left for tour I moved into a new house and met my roommate Caden, who is a video editor and his best friend Sam, a cinematographer. Within a day of our initial meeting I had pitched the idea of putting tooth gems on an 82 year old woman and rearranging our living room into a production studio. 72 hours later the video was shot. My directorial debut: no budget, makeup wipes and stickers.” Check it out below.

This is the second Phoebe Bridgers-featuring song released this week, following Arlo Parks’ “Pegasus.” Phoebe is currently on tour opening for (and performing with) Taylor Swift. That tour hits the NYC-area on May 26, 27, and 28 at MetLife Stadium.

Compare it to the original demo:

And here’s the previous single with Brittany Howard:

Tracklist
1. I Bend But Never Break (ft. Brittany Howard)
2. Can Only Be Love (ft. Emily King)
3. Marvel Room (ft. Bon Iver)
4. Wasted (ft. Phoebe Bridgers)
5. Extract (ft. Sara Bareilles)

Rob Moose Phoebe Bridgers
photo by Shervin Lainez