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Oct 23, 2020 Conor Oberst By Christopher Roberts Photography by Danny Cohen

Bright Eyes have shared a new song for Planned Parenthood, “Miracle of Life,” which features backing vocals from Phoebe Bridgers, as well as featuring Jon Theodore and Flea. The song is available on Bandcamp and all proceeds from downloads, streams, and syncs will go to Planned Parenthood. Listen below.

Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst had this to say about the song in a press release: “This song should not exist in 2020 America. It is a protest song, I guess. Or maybe just a little story about what was, what still is in many parts of the world and what could be again here in this country if the GOP is successful in reshaping the Supreme Court and rolling back all of the hard fought progress made for reproductive rights in the last fifty years. Hopefully, if we all work together and vote, it will make this song sound as irrelevant and outdated as it should.”

In August, Bright Eyes (Oberst, Mike Mogis, and Nathaniel Walcott) released their first album in nine years, Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was, via Dead Oceans

Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was is the band’s first album for Dead Oceans and the first Bright Eyes album since 2011’s The People’s Key. The album includes three previously shared singles: “Persona Non Grata,” a new song the band shared in March that was their first new song in nine years; “Forced Convalescence,” a new song shared in April that was one of our Songs of the Week; and “One and Done,” a new song shared in May via a lyric video that was also one of our Songs of the Week. Then when the album was announced Bright Eyes shared another new song from it, “Mariana Trench,” via an animated video for the track. Then the band was the musical guest on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, performing “Mariana Trench” in what was their first performance together in nine years.

Oberst has kept busy in the last decade with solo and collaborative projects (such as last year’s Better Oblivion Community Center duo with Bridgers). Since Bright Eyes went on hiatus, Mogis has kept busy as a producer and Walcott has worked as a film composer. Oberst’s punk band Desaparecidos also reformed for 2015’s Payola. But all three members have remained in close contact with each other, with Oberst living 15 minutes away from Walcott while at his home in Los Angeles and living next door to Mogis while at his home in Omaha. It was at a Christmas party at Walcott’s house in LA in 2017 that Oberst first suggested to Walcott that they get the band back together. The two then called Mogis, who was Christmas shopping in Omaha at the time, and he immediately agreed.

Read our review of Down in the Weeds, Where the World Once Was.

Bridgers put out a new album, Punisher, earlier this year. Bridgers is on one of the two covers of our current print issue (Issue 67). Bright Eyes are interviewed in the same issue. Find out all about it here.

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