Stranger in the Alps

Stranger in the Alps was produced by Tony Berg and Ethan Gruska.{{cite web |last=Trefor |first=Cai |title=The making of Stranger In The Alps: Phoebe Bridgers interviewed |url=https://www.gigwise.com/features/3270092/the-making-of-stranger-in-the-alps--phoebe-bridgers-interviewed |website=Gigwise |access-date=December 27, 2021 |date=August 9, 2018}} Bridgers recorded the album in between tours over 2016 at Berg's studio in Brentwood, Los Angeles.{{cite web |title=Phoebe Bridgers: Stranger In The Alps |url=https://deadoceans.com/records/stranger-in-the-alps/ |website=Dead Oceans |access-date=December 27, 2021 |date=September 22, 2017}} The album's title is a reference to the edited-for-TV version of the film The Big Lebowski, which changed Walter Sobchak's (John Goodman) line "Do you see what happens when you fuck a stranger in the ass?" to "Do you see what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps?"{{cite web|url=https://daily.bandcamp.com/2017/09/25/phoebe-bridgers-stranger-in-the-alps-interview/|title=Phoebe Bridgers on the Places That Inspired Her Tender Indie Rock|last=Cosores|first=Philip|date=September 25, 2017|publisher=Bandcamp|work=Bandcamp Daily|accessdate=February 14, 2019}} Bridgers opted to use the phrase because she found it to be "kind of poetic on accident".{{cite web | last=Meredith |first=Kyle | title=Phoebe Bridgers on poetry, directness, and The Big Lebowski |date=October 24, 2017 |publisher=Louisville Public Media |url=https://www.lpm.org/music/2017-10-24/phoebe-bridgers-on-poetry-directness-and-the-big-lebowski |access-date=March 16, 2023}}{{cite interview |last=Bridgers |first=Phoebe |subject-link=Phoebe Bridgers |interviewer=Kyle Meredith |title=Kyle Meredith with... Phoebe Bridgers |date=October 26, 2017 |publisher=Louisville Public Media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtpDcu3JwMk |time-caption=0:46 |access-date=March 16, 2023}}

Bridgers signed a recording contract with Dead Oceans in June 2017,{{cite web |last=Sacher |first=Andrew |title=Phoebe Bridgers signs to Dead Oceans for debut LP, touring with Conor Oberst |url=https://www.brooklynvegan.com/phoebe-bridgers-signs-to-dead-oceans-for-debut-lp-touring-with-conor-oberst/ |website=BrooklynVegan |access-date=December 27, 2021 |date=June 6, 2017}} and the album was scheduled for release on September 22.{{cite web |title=Phoebe Bridgers announces debut album, 'Stranger in the Alps' |url=https://diymag.com/2017/07/18/phoebe-bridgers-announces-debut-album-stranger-in-the-alps |website=DIY |access-date=December 27, 2021 |date=July 18, 2017}} The album received a limited edition 5th anniversary galaxy colored vinyl pressing on September 22, 2022.{{cite web |title=Stranger in the Alps (5th Anniversary Edition) - Phoebe Bridgers |url=https://www.secretlystore.com/phoebe-bridgers-stranger-in-the-alps-anniversary-edition |website=Secretly Store |access-date=30 November 2022}}

{{Music ratings

| ADM = 7.8/10{{cite web|url=http://www.anydecentmusic.com/review/8947/Phoebe-Bridgers-Stranger-In-The-Alps.aspx|title=Stranger In The Alps by Phoebe Bridgers reviews|website=AnyDecentMusic?|accessdate=January 27, 2019}}

| MC = 82/100{{cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/music/stranger-in-the-alps/phoebe-bridgers|title=Reviews and Tracks for Stranger in the Alps by Phoebe Bridgers|website=Metacritic|accessdate=January 27, 2019}}

| rev1 = AllMusic

| rev1Score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/stranger-in-the-alps-mw0003084913|title=Stranger in the Alps – Phoebe Bridgers|last=Monger|first=James Christopher|website=AllMusic|accessdate=January 27, 2019}}

| rev2 = The A.V. Club

| rev2Score = A{{cite web|url=https://www.avclub.com/one-of-this-year-s-best-debut-albums-is-also-one-of-its-1818829585|title=One of this year's best debut albums is also one of its saddest|last=Modell|first=Josh|date=September 27, 2017|website=The A.V. Club|accessdate=January 27, 2019}}

| rev3 = Consequence of Sound

| rev3Score = A−{{cite web|url=https://consequence.net/2017/09/album-review-phoebe-bridgers-stranger-in-the-alps/|title=Phoebe Bridgers – Stranger in the Alps|last=Bloom|first=Andrew|date=September 21, 2017|website=Consequence of Sound|accessdate=January 27, 2019}}

| rev4 = Exclaim!

| rev4Score = 9/10{{cite web|url=http://exclaim.ca/music/article/phoebe_bridgers-stranger_in_the_alps|title=Phoebe Bridgers: Stranger in the Alps|last=Gee|first=Chris|date=September 20, 2017|website=Exclaim!|accessdate=January 27, 2019}}

| rev5 = The Irish Times

| rev5Score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/album-reviews/phoebe-bridgers-review-a-vulnerable-and-vibrant-voice-1.3238376|title=Phoebe Bridgers review: A vulnerable and vibrant voice|last=Breen|first=Joe|date=October 6, 2017|newspaper=The Irish Times|accessdate=August 30, 2019}}

| rev6 = Mojo

| rev6Score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine|title=Phoebe Bridgers: Stranger in the Alps|date=November 2017|magazine=Mojo|issue=288|page=103}}

| rev7 = NME

| rev7Score = {{Rating|4|5}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nme.com/reviews/phoebe-bridgers-strangers-in-the-alps-2143436|title=Phoebe Bridgers – 'Strangers In The Alps' Review|last=Cooper|first=Leonie|date=September 21, 2017|website=NME|accessdate=December 17, 2019}}

| rev8 = Pitchfork

| rev8Score = 7.0/10{{cite web|url=https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/phoebe-bridgers-stranger-in-the-alps/|title=Phoebe Bridgers: Stranger in the Alps|last=Sodomsky|first=Sam|date=September 23, 2017|website=Pitchfork|accessdate=January 27, 2019}}

| rev9 = Q

| rev9Score = {{rating|4|5}}{{cite magazine|title=Phoebe Bridgers: Stranger in the Alps|last=Barton|first=Laura|date=December 2017|magazine=Q|issue=379|page=102}}

| rev10 = Uncut

| rev10Score = 6/10{{cite magazine|title=Phoebe Bridgers: Stranger in the Alps|last=Wallace|first=Wyndham|date=October 2017|magazine=Uncut|issue=245|page=24}}

}}

Stranger in the Alps received acclaim from critics; review aggregator Metacritic gave the album a weighted average score of 82/100 based on 16 critic reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".

Josh Modell of The A.V. Club gave the album a perfect score, saying, "Stranger in the Alps alchemizes sorrow into redemptive beauty. It's never about wallowing, but about slowly moving through it. That difference, played out over some incredible, wise-beyond-her-years songwriting, makes it one of the best albums of the year." Writing for Pitchfork, Sam Sodomsky said that the album is "a collection of songs about intimacy, documenting how our relationships affect the way we view ourselves and interact with others... Bridgers' voice has a breezy, conversational flutter [that] sounds best when she double-tracks it in layers of light falsetto", rating the album 7.0/10.

{{track listing

| total_length = 44:15

| title1 = Smoke Signals

| writer1 = {{hlist|Phoebe Bridgers|Marshall Vore}}

| length1 = 5:24

| title2 = Motion Sickness

| writer2 = {{hlist|Bridgers|Vore}}

| length2 = 3:49

| title3 = Funeral

| writer3 = Bridgers

| length3 = 3:52

| title4 = Demi Moore

| writer4 = {{hlist|Bridgers|Vore|Harrison Whitford}}

| length4 = 3:18

| title5 = Scott Street

| writer5 = {{hlist|Bridgers|Vore}}

| length5 = 5:05

| title6 = Killer

| writer6 = Bridgers

| length6 = 3:09

| title7 = Georgia

| writer7 = Bridgers

| length7 = 4:07

| title8 = Chelsea

| writer8 = Bridgers

| length8 = 4:42

| title9 = Would You Rather

| writer9 = {{hlist|Bridgers|Vore|Tony Berg}}

| length9 = 3:19

| title10 = You Missed My Heart

| writer10 = {{hlist|Mark Kozelek|Jimmy LaValle}}

| length10 = 6:57

| title11 = Smoke Signals (Reprise)

| writer11 = {{hlist|Bridgers|Vore}}

| length11 = 0:33

}}

{{track listing

| headline = Deluxe digital reissue{{Cite web|url=https://deadoceans.com/news/phoebe-bridgers-deluxe-digital-reissue-of-stranger-in-the-alps-out-now/|title=Phoebe Bridgers' deluxe digital reissue of 'Strangers in the Alps' out now|date=February 10, 2018|publisher=Dead Oceans|access-date=November 12, 2019}}

| title12 = It'll All Work Out

| writer12 = Tom Petty

| length12 = 2:46

| title13 = Motion Sickness

| note13 = demo

| writer13 = {{hlist|Bridgers|Vore}}

| length13 = 4:24

| total_length = 51:25

}}

Credits adapted from liner notes.{{Cite AV media notes |title=Stranger in the Alps |author=Bridgers, Phoebe |year=2017 |publisher=Dead Oceans |type=Liner notes |id=DOC142}}

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Musicians

• Phoebe Bridgers – vocals, guitar, banjo
• Tony Berg – guitar, keyboards
• John Doe – vocals
• Ethan Gruska – keyboards, piano, drums, percussion, drum programming, guitar, bass, baritone guitar, bandura, jet engine, "that incessant toe tapping"
• Greg Leisz – pedal steel guitar
• Rob Moose – strings
• Gabe Noel – cello, bass
• Conor Oberst – vocals
• Daniel Rhine – upright bass
• Gabe Witcher – violin
• Marshall Vore – drums, percussion, vocals
• Harrison Whitford – guitar

{{col-2}}

Production

• Tony Berg – production, recording
• Ethan Gruska – production
• Mike Mogis – mixing
• Bob Ludwig – mastering
• Rob Moose – string arrangement

Artwork

• Angela Deane – artwork
• Elaine Gandola – photography
• Frank W. Ockenfels III – photography
• Bridgers' mother – photography
• Nathaniel David Utesch – layout

{{col-end}}

{{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications for Stranger in the Alps}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|artist=Phoebe Bridgers|title=Stranger in the Alps|type=album|award=Gold|relyear=2017|certyear=2024|access-date=August 16, 2024|id=18571-5897-2}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|artist=Phoebe Bridgers|title=Stranger in the Alps|type=album|award=Gold|relyear=2017|certyear=2024|access-date=January 23, 2024}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=true|noshipments=true|streaming=true}}

{{reflist}}

{{Phoebe Bridgers}}

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Category:2017 debut albums

Category:Phoebe Bridgers albums

Category:Dead Oceans albums

Category:Albums produced by Tony Berg