Conor Oberst has decided to go solo with his latest album – ‘Conor Oberst’. A surprise for some as ‘Bright Eyes’ is more often than not seen as a vehicle for Oberst’s solo work anyhow. So maybe this new acceptance of his birth name is more a signifier of a step change. Well, apparently not.
Oberst has said that the reason for dropping the moniker has come about due to the lack of involvement of Mike Mogis without whom he could not trade underneath the name ‘Bright Eyes’. So in reality, musically, it’s business as usual; A selection of wordy ballads, loose bar room country sing-a-longs and stripped down protest songs. This is not a criticism however, why change the formula when it works so well?
The performances are not as self aware as previous albums and the musicianship is a lot looser, in fact it sounds like they’re having fun (see ‘Sausalito’ or ‘Moab’) but they still follow the same flight path that ‘Cassadaga’ was on. The name of the backing band may point you in the right direction. ‘The Mystic Valley Band’ sounds like a band that might have emerged from the Laurel Canyon heyday, and a lot of this feels like it belongs in the realm of that era’s classic country-rock, especially in ‘I Don’t Want to Die (In the Hospital)’, which is a close relative to Gram Parsons ‘Ooh Las Vegas’
Oberst has often been touted as the next Dylan, and on tracks such as ‘Get-Well-Cards’ or ‘NYC-Gone, Gone’ it’s not just the lyrical content but the sound that are pure ‘Desire’ era Dylan. This may be the combination of the loose country band feel with the maturing voice of Oberst, which has lost its fragile quivering and discovered a new confidence.
However, it’s on the starker moments where Oberst really steals the show. The opener ‘Cape Canaveral’ is enthralling and the lyrics gob smacking (“While the mountain’s side was shining, Wild colours of my destiny, I watched your face age backwards, Changing shape in my memory, You told me victory’s sweet, Even deep in the cheap seats”) albeit maybe a bit too showy in places. Likewise ‘Money Lenders’ is a beautiful protest song with some achingly beautiful imagery (“There’s money lenders inside the temple, the circus tiger’s gonna break your heart, something so wild turned into paper, if I loved you, well that’s my fault”).
So less a change of direction and more a slight diversion from the usual path, but why would he need to change, when what he does he does so well?
Top Tracks: ‘Cape Canaveral’, ‘Money Lenders’.
Released 04/08/2008 on Wichita
