Out Now: Phoebe Bridgers (and Rob Moose) Re-Imagine Four Songs from ‘Punisher’ as ‘Copycat Killer’ EP (Listen)

Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Phoebe Bridgers, who has raised her profile exponentially in 2020 (despite everything else going on) with her most recent studio album, Punisher — one of the year’s strongest records and a masterful, haunting statement from the artist – revisited four key Punisher tracks for Copycat Killer, a new EP released today. It’s her first release since last week, when she and Maggie Rogers satisfied the demands of the internet by releasing a cover of the Goo Goo Dolls’ 1990s classic “Iris.”

For this EP project, Bridgers worked with Grammy Award-winning string player/arranger Rob Moose, known for his work with the likes of Bon Iver, John Legend, Taylor Swift, the Killers, Haim and more.

It was previewed with a new take on “Kyoto,” which was originally the lead single from Punisher:

The EP’s track listing:

1. Kyoto
2. Savior Complex
3. Chinese Satellite
4. Punisher

It’s the track “Punisher,” by the way, which gives the EP its title thanks to the lyric “A copycat killer with a chemical cut”:

Listen to the Copycat Killer EP below, via Spotify:

Click here to pick up the original Punisher album from our Rock Cellar Store. 

And here’s some more about Punisher from our album review:

Releasing Punisher in the middle of a global pandemic probably wasn’t what Phoebe Bridgers had in mind for her new album, but there’s really no better soundtrack for wiling away the hours sheltering in place and worrying about both the present and the future, while openly acknowledging the absurdity of it all — a testament to Phoebe Bridgers’ uncanny ability to find beauty among the chaos of the human condition.

That Punisher was released when it was — in a time of significant social unrest and a global pandemic that has ravaged all areas of “normal life,” with the prospect of things returning to what they were a wistful dream — almost seems appropriate, given the record’s themes of unease and vulnerability.

If you haven’t yet listened to Punisher, which was recorded with the assistance of a number of Bridgers’ colleagues and friends, including Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes (with whom Bridgers has another project, Better Oblivion Community Center), you should.