January 20, 2005

{ Bright Eyes I'm Wide Awake It's Morning }

I'll admit it: I'm something of a pain junkie. At least when it comes to my favorite music. Most of the songs I hit the "back" button on to listen to "just one more time" are about heartache, loneliness, death, or some combination of the three. I've got a heart for country music. I mean country music the way it's supposed to be, not that overproduced shit on the radio about how great it would be to kill all the darkies and that the USA is so terribly fucking awesome. I'm talking about real Hank Williams -- not Junior, mind you -- type shit here. So it was only natural that I find a terribly passionate sort of love for _I'm Wide Awake It's Morning_ one of the two new albums from that indie rock poster boy of darkness and depression: Conor Oberst a.k.a. Bright Eyes. This one is the country album, and features Emmylou Harris providing backup vocals on few tracks. _Digital Ash in a Digital Urn_, his other forthcoming album, is more like his previous stuff apparently. I've got to admit, I don't know anything about that. Not only did I decide not to pre-order that album, I have not yet heard a single track from the previous Bright Eyes albums. Can't say why really, just never got around to them I reckon. I've had this album for about 1 hour now, and I've listened to it one and one-third times so far, and I love it dearly. I think you might to. Honestly, I don't have much more to say than that. You can go look somewhere else for a review that calls Conor the "Bob Dylan of the 21st century" if you like. I don't have anything half as portentous as that to say. I'll keep it simpler: for those out there with a ken for heartbreak and steel guitars, here's an album you ought to pick up.

» Order I'm Wide Awake It's Morning or the other one from Saddle Creek

By Benjamin in Music | Comments:

Comments

"or the other one" ....I love it :)

Posted by: Shane at January 20, 2005 7:49 AM

I read on a magazine a few months ago that they proclamed him "The Future of Music"... now, I wouldn't go that far. They later changed the cover. But hes not too shabby.

Posted by: Karl at January 20, 2005 4:22 PM

The "future of music" sounds an awful lot like the past. The Dylan comparison isn't all that far off-base in terms of sound, leastwise on this particular release.

I think I always associated Bright Eyes with teenagers dressed all in black mouthing the words with their eyes clenched because they "feel it, feel it so much." Kind of like that commercial on late-night television for modern gospel (I think the album cover has a neon cross). I didn't know what I was getting into when I slapped down my (virtual) cash on the (very virtual) barrelhead, but I like.

There's this little spoken-word intro to the first song on the album in which two people on a plane are barrelling headfirst for the biggest ocean on planet Earth from 30,000 feet. A woman asks, "Where are we going?" and the man next to her says, "We're going to a party. We're going to a birthday party. It's your birthday, darling, and we all love you very, very, very, very much!" It was in those first 10 seconds or so that I realized I made a good purchase.

Posted by: benjamin at January 21, 2005 1:17 AM

Actually the "Digital Ash" is nothing like older Bright Eyes stuff- that album is the "progressive" one. This album is the normal one.

Posted by: Stevo at February 1, 2005 9:10 PM