Pair of Oberst albums have your weekend covered
Jonathan Carrelli
Issue date: 1/21/05 Section: Sports
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We are nearing the end of January, a month always known for its barren music release schedule. The year of 2005 has already provided us with some disappointments with new albums from ...And You Will Know us From the Trail of Dead and Low, but has also delivered us a brilliant EP/mini-album by the Fiery Furnaces and a great sophomore effort from M83.
However, one man seems to be receiving all this month's attention. Connor Oberst (a.k.a. "Bright Eyes") released two albums this past Tuesday on Saddle Creek Records, the alt-country I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning and the electronic/rocking counterpart Digital Ash in a Digital Urn.
Some have heralded Oberst as the new rock and roll prodigy. The reason for this may lie in his extremely young starting age as an artist or his prolific writing abilities. 2002's Lifted... showed Oberst adorning his compositions with a cacophony of noises over large tracts of time. The two new albums strip away most of this noodling, allowing the listener to hear if Oberst can retain the emotional impact of his earlier efforts without the noise. It would appear that Oberst is not entirely the "next big rock and roll star," but he does write some damn fine songs.
I'm Wide Awake starts off with the excellent "At the Bottom of Everything," albeit with a strange stuttering dialogue introduction (the song features a melody cribbed from Philadelphia natives The Dead Milkmen.) The song recalls the laid-back tunefulness of late-era Uncle Tupelo. "We Are Nowhere And It's Now," features Emmylou Harris on back-up vocals, a fact that has led to numerous comparisons to the late country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons. "We Are Nowhere And It's Now" is not as affecting as anything on Parsons' G.P. or Grievous Angel, but it is just nearly worthy of Emmylou's back-up pipes.
However, Oberst's uniqueness lies in his combination of Gram Parson's musicality and his location of narrative, New York City. The stripped-down arrangements don't serve Oberst too well; his lyrical musings are not as convincing as they were on Lifted. However, the more up-tempo "Train Under Water" and the Flying Burrito Brothers-esque "Another Travelin' Song" add the necessary weight to make Oberst's talent shine. The middle of the album suffers from a few merely pleasant numbers, but rebounds with the excellent "Land Locked Blues" with Oberst and Harris singing in unison "But it all boils down to one quotable phrase/If you love something give it away." The album closes with the epic "Poison Oak" and "Road to Joy" (which quotes Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.)
However, one man seems to be receiving all this month's attention. Connor Oberst (a.k.a. "Bright Eyes") released two albums this past Tuesday on Saddle Creek Records, the alt-country I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning and the electronic/rocking counterpart Digital Ash in a Digital Urn.
Some have heralded Oberst as the new rock and roll prodigy. The reason for this may lie in his extremely young starting age as an artist or his prolific writing abilities. 2002's Lifted... showed Oberst adorning his compositions with a cacophony of noises over large tracts of time. The two new albums strip away most of this noodling, allowing the listener to hear if Oberst can retain the emotional impact of his earlier efforts without the noise. It would appear that Oberst is not entirely the "next big rock and roll star," but he does write some damn fine songs.
I'm Wide Awake starts off with the excellent "At the Bottom of Everything," albeit with a strange stuttering dialogue introduction (the song features a melody cribbed from Philadelphia natives The Dead Milkmen.) The song recalls the laid-back tunefulness of late-era Uncle Tupelo. "We Are Nowhere And It's Now," features Emmylou Harris on back-up vocals, a fact that has led to numerous comparisons to the late country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons. "We Are Nowhere And It's Now" is not as affecting as anything on Parsons' G.P. or Grievous Angel, but it is just nearly worthy of Emmylou's back-up pipes.
However, Oberst's uniqueness lies in his combination of Gram Parson's musicality and his location of narrative, New York City. The stripped-down arrangements don't serve Oberst too well; his lyrical musings are not as convincing as they were on Lifted. However, the more up-tempo "Train Under Water" and the Flying Burrito Brothers-esque "Another Travelin' Song" add the necessary weight to make Oberst's talent shine. The middle of the album suffers from a few merely pleasant numbers, but rebounds with the excellent "Land Locked Blues" with Oberst and Harris singing in unison "But it all boils down to one quotable phrase/If you love something give it away." The album closes with the epic "Poison Oak" and "Road to Joy" (which quotes Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.)
