There are few acts in this world that I reserve a level of sycophancy that will go above and beyond the realms of reasonable taste. I happily forgave Jack White for a few of those weak songs on The Raconteurs first album, and I own all of the Manic Street Preachers’ albums, despite none of them really being any good since 1996. A bit of fan adoration goes a long way. But perhaps I’m becoming more pragmatic about these things, or it might just be that some things just can’t be ignored.
In my list of all-time personal greats, there would have to be Bright Eyes. For years now I have droned on to anyone that shows the mildest bit of interest about how stunning the lyrics are, how as a band Bright Eyes has evolved and remained quite simply amazing year upon year. Bright Eyes is CONOR OBERST and whoever he happens to playing with at that time, and now Conor Oberst has gone ‘solo’ with his Mystic Valley Band. Faith and fan-blindness made me believe that this was going to be awesome without hearing a note.
Yet one listen in and I felt a little confused. Some things didn’t feel right, but I expected it to be an album full of growers. This review is written after the seventh listen, and there is no hiding the disappointment.
‘Conor Oberst’ is a back to nature album. It has the vibe of being out in the middle of nowhere and being at one with the world. It’s jangly, and folky, and on the whole it feels very good natured.
The problems start with the lyrics, but work their way through the entire album. It would appear that the rhetoric has just gone too far. ‘Cape Canaveral’ features the lyric “I knew that victory was sweet, even deep in the cheap seats.” Which is meant to sound profound, but it just doesn’t. It’s just a reworking of something someone else has said. The religious imagery is back, but anyone who cares surely knows what Conor Oberst thinks of religion by now.
Having released one of the best songs of last year in ‘Four Winds,’ it seems criminal for him to rip it off, and to do it so dismally, with ‘Danny Callahan.’ The tune is built up on the same ideas, but lacks any of the elements that made the aforementioned single special. There is certainly no new ground covered on this album – it’s like new Bright Eyes music recorded on the old Bright Eyes budget. Many of the verses seem to have built on traditional folk standards, like on ‘Sausalito,’ which is an adequate song, but nothing more than that.
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‘Get Well Cards’ is a clear indication that all of those Bob Dylan references in reviews have been taken too far – and on the whole album there is this feeling of protest, and freedom, and anti-religion – but it all sounds either contrived or very much done before. Imagine ‘I’m Wide Awake (It’s Morning)’ stripped right down and sapped of all the things that made it so affecting in the first place.
Album closer ‘Milk Thistle’ is terrible. It’s a simple, sad, acoustic song, that is nothing compared to almost anything produced by Bright Eyes. It’s possibly the first Oberst song that I’ve actively cringed at. Like many of the lyrics on this album, for the first time in Oberst’s career, it sounds like he’s creating the sentiment according to what rhymes. The final words on the album are “If I go to heaven, I’ll be bored as hell, like a crying baby at the bottom of a well.”
It’s not all terrible, though. ‘Lenders in the Temple’ has a great tune, even if the lyrics leave a little to be desired. It’s one of the few truly tender moments on an album lacking in any real emotion. The military stomp of ‘NYC – Gone, Gone’ is very enjoyable, and at a little over a minute in length it doesn’t outstay its’ welcome. ‘I Don’t Want to Die (in a hospital)’ is a great adult nursery rhyme that starts to wear thin towards the end of the first listen. One or two less repetitions and it would have been just right.
It’s a listenable album, but as an artist Conor Oberst has set the bar very high for himself, and unfortunately this falls way below the mark. Let’s hope the inspiration returns for the next Bright Eyes outing, because this album is one I intend to forget very quickly.
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