Conor Oberst: Conor Oberst

I’ll admit that last year’s Cassadaga left me with a feeling of little more than contentment. Not an easy thing to admit since I’ve been one of the biggest Bright Eyes proponents ever since I first heard 2002’s Lifted. It didn’t help that it was the first Bright Eyes offering in 2 years and what I assumed would be the only one for the next couple years as well. So you can understand the glee that rushed through me when Conor Oberst announced he would be releasing a “solo” record on August 5th care of Merge Records. Luckily, unlike Cassadaga, this self-titled effort is not over thought and over produced, but instead a carefree exercising of Oberst’s influential ghosts (Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Townes Van Zandt) that previous efforts had only briefly touched on.

Starting off with the percussive tapping on an acoustic guitar, “Cape Canaveral” finds Oberst dishing out some instantly classic lines like “victory is sweet, even deep in the cheap seats” and in typical Bright Eyes form takes away from the song a bit with a random lo-fi sampling of some school children at play that sounds very similar to the sample used at the beginning of “If Winter Ends” from Letting Off the Happiness. “Sausalito” is one of the best folk songs the 28 year old has ever written while “Get Well Cards” is his most obvious tip of the hat to Dylan with some abstract lyrics like “all the peacock people left their plumes in a pile” and “i want to be your bootlegger, mix you up something strange” all laid over some loose acoustic guitars and drums. I would say other stand outs include yadda yadda yadda and so and so but it’d be easier to list the two tracks that miss the mark on this, “Eagle on a Pole” never seems to go anywhere and is the only time the lyrics don’t live up to Oberst’s abilities and “Valle Mistico (Ruben’s Song)” is a throw away track of 48 seconds that is little more than some crickets chirping, some people talking and a dying trumpet. That being said, there are no bad songs on the rest of the album, from the first singles “Danny Callahan” and “Souled Out!!!” to the short and lively “NYC — Gone, Gone” and “I Don’t Want to Die (in the hospital” which might be the funnest and most country song that he’s ever penned. Showing the maturity that everyone claimed he finally showed on Cassadaga (how is writing Lifted at 21 NOT mature?), “Lenders in the Temple” and album closer “Milk Thistle” rest on little more than a single guitar and Oberst’s wonderfully crafted narratives.

The most notable difference between this and all previous Bright Eyes efforts is the absence of Mike Mogis. The only other long time Bright Eyes collabarator and producer is no where to be found on this album. Recorded in the Mexican town of Tepoztlan where he rented out a hotel that comprised of four two story houses and had Andy Lemaster (Now It’s Overhead) record the album with his assembled Mystic Valley Band with Taylor Hollingsworth on guitar, team love artist Nick Freitas on guitar, Rilo Kiley’s Jason Bosel on drums, Bright Eyes member Nat Walcott on keys, trumpet and Maria Taylor’s brother/bass player Macey Taylor on bass. The result is a loose, summery folk album that touches on the serious and dark and will overall prove to be one of this years finest releases.