The Analysis

Bright Eyes: Cassadaga

for those of you that know me, you know me feelings on Conor Oberst, the wunderkind behind Bright Eyes. His album "Lifted, or the Story is in the Soil Keep Your Ear to the Ground" is one my cornerstone albums of my life. Hit me right at the end of high school/beginning of college and has cemented itself in my personal lore. it was the start of my love affair with pretetious indie music.

fast forward a couple of years and Mr. Oberst has been called every name in the indie/blogosphere dictionary with the most prevalent being "The New Dylan." I too have jumped on that band wagon and soapboxed my beliefs about his musical talent and god given talent to make my heart, my head, and my liver hurt simultaneously. he is releasing his new album "Cassadaga" to the masses which is combination of last two records "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning" and "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn" Listening to the record for the first couple of times you can't help but be overwhelmed by the production. It's bigger, smoother, and holistically different that a lot of his past records. But in the end it does feel like a mashup of previous work but with larger issues within the songs.

a lot of critics have railroaded Conor for being too political and tackling material too big for his britches. this is a more, dare i say it, "mature" album which i don't think is a bad thing. you can feel a lot of the sadness and growing pains coming through the lyrics with topics such as personal cleansing, war, and death doting virtually every song. but some of the songs come off with grand pagentry and lyrical flourish that make Oberst a man to watch for a long while.

my favorite standout tracks are as follows "Soul Singer in a Session Band" is a great country/soul mash up with the lyrics following a desperate man trying to sing for the masses. sonically and lyrically great to the ear as it just charges forward. also "If the Brakeman Turns My Way" is another hard driving song about growing up. there are also a handful of slower bluesy tracks that showed up a lot on "I'm Wide Awake". "Classic Cars and Hot Knives" are hard songs to get into from the start but they pull you in eventually.

as a whole the record is well produced and sonically stronger than its predecessors. yet, i can't help feeling this is more of a transitional record rather than a cornerstone of his work. i am always going to be partial to "Lifted" and "I'm Wide Awake" is amazing. yet, with the force and lyrical material Oberst displays i think we are in for an interesting ride. i still believe that he is one of the men that we have to watch with the future of music and a lt of that is personal bias but i think i have a reason to say that. pick it up and see if you agree with me.

vote democrat.