Phoebe Bridgers and Arlo Parks teamed up for the Piano Session on Radio 1’s Chillest Show with host Phil Taggart. During their set, they performed a cover of Radiohead’s ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ as well as Bridgers’ ‘Kyoto’, from her most recent album Punisher. Check out their performance, which features Parks on piano and both artists on vocals, below.
When asked about how her collaboration with Arlo Parks came about, Bridgers said: “I can’t remember who sent Arlo to me initially but it was all I listened to for a couple of weeks, which is funny ’cause she doesn’t have that much music. I became a really big fan and we started DMing. She covered ‘Moon Song’ and I was like, ‘This is the coolest thing ever’. I was in London working on stuff and we went into a church and filmed us covering Radiohead and one of my songs.”
Speaking about their stripped-down version of ‘Kyoto’, she added: “The coolest thing about this version is that it highlights how sad it is. Also, Arlo’s voice is just so cool and it’s very different from mine so I think we complement each other a lot. It’s a really sad song. I initially wrote it as a ballad and it turned into an uptempo song, but when you read the lyrics it’s a really sad song.”
Explaining her decision to cover Radiohead, she said: “My first ever London show was at St Pancras Old Church and there were like 100 people there and I thought it would be cool to cover Radiohead. It was the first time that people really showed up specifically for me. It was before my album even was out. It was magical. I think it’s one of the best songs ever written.”
Bridgers recently teamed up with Courtney Barnett for a cover of Gillian Welch’s ‘Everything Is Free’. Punisher, which we named one of our Best Albums of 2020 (So Far) list, was released in June.
Arlo Parks recently unveiled her latest single, ‘Hurt’. Earlier this year, she offered her own take on another Radiohead track, ‘Creep’.
