Conor Oberst, Conor Oberst
If you have paid much any attention to music in the last ten years, you have more than likely been exposed to Conor Oberst's band Bright Eyes. Their introspective, emotional lyrics often get them pegged as just another emo act, doomed to obscurity now that the novelty has passed; however, they, and Oberst, are so much more. While they certainly are not perfect, their songs have a little bit of everything: lush descriptions of far-off places, political overtones, soothing vocals, and just a thin wash of country twang to round the whole thing out. It has been eight long years since "Fevers and Mirrors" brought Bright Eyes onto the big stage, and Oberst has never stayed off it for too long at one time. Despite criticism for overwrought lyrics, leftist leanings, and a slew of other (occasionally valid) complaints, Oberst knows how to make music, music that works its way into the soundtracks to summers and road trips and rallies and relationships.
In an unexpected twist, this album is being released on Merge Records, rather than Saddle Creek (the norm for Oberst and Bright Eyes.) Recorded in Mexico with "The Mystic Valley Band," it is also a rare break from the Bright Eyes label. The style is also looser and more casual than what we have come to expect from Oberst, and tracks like "Sausalito" have a road-trip cool sound (and road-trip cool lyrics) that show a happier, brighter (cough) side that hasn?t been heard from him in a while. Then again, by the time "Lenders in the Temple" rolls around, the introspective, vaguely religious/political lyrics and moody feel makes you almost (almost) forget the sunny side.
"Lenders" is a standout, though not too different from many latter-day Bright Eyes material. While it retains the loose feel of the rest of the album, it also has a tired, desperate melancholy that lingers past the song's end. Lyrically, it os a picaresque mess of historical name-dropping (So watch your back, / the Ides of March / Cut your hair like Joan of Arc) and navel-gazing, a downbeat tune that will fit right in with winter play lists.
There is more energy, as well as a more obvious story, in "I Don't Want to Die (in the Hospital)," a repetitious and infectious rock-infused song about wanting to get outside one last time. While certainly more direct than many other songs in Oberst's oeuvre, his signature rich imagery and layered figurative language deepen a song that could have turned shallow and flat in the wrong hands. "Eagle on a Pole" takes it down a notch, though it is still an energetic song. The imagery shifts from the delicate to the harsh on an almost word-by-word basis ("While the ashes of the dead, / like a dandelion head, / explode and then are scattered by the breeze.") What it lacks in memorability (though not bad, it is one of the lesser songs on the album) it makes up for with twangy guitars and a brief but adept instrumental segment 3/4 of the way through.
Inexplicable non-song "Valle Mistico (Ruben's Song)" is a strange step towards nothingness, and sort of a mood-breaker amidst so many moody songs. Thankfully, it gives way to "Souled Out!!!," a loose and highly percussive piece with a touch of background chatter and more thick figurative language. The tracks seem to alternate between slow, despondent songs and fast (also despondent) songs, which lends a peculiar flow to the album.
Album closer "Milk Thistle" has the same spare sound as most Bright Eyes' songs, and could have easily been branded as such with no one noticing the difference. It is a hipster lullaby: soft, sweet, and unpretentious at first listen, but hiding pain, desperation, and general malaise in its carefully constructed vocals. There is less urgency here than in the album's faster, more rhythmic offerings, but there is also a certain sense of finality, one last song before Oberst backs off the stage. Knowing the prolific singer, though, we know it won?t be long before we hear from him again: by this November, Bright Eyes will already be working on the follow-up to 2007's "Cassadaga." Hopefully, we will continue to hear from them for many years to come; quality this consistent is hard to come by these days, and singers like Oberst are few and far between. Conor Oberst may not be the album of the year, or even the album of the month, but it is solidly written, and solidly performed, and solidly produced. Solidly.
