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| Connor Oberst’s singular sound rises above everything else in the messages that Bright Eyes bring to I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning. While the supporting cast changes from song to song, Oberst’s direction and poetic approach is present throughout. |
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| DETAILS -Widows Media |
| 1. At The Bottom Of Everything - (with Jim James)
2. We Are Nowhere And It's Now - (with Emmylou Harris)
3. Old Soul Song (For The New World Order) - (with Emmylou Harris)
4. Lua
5. Train Under Water
6. First Day Of My Life
7. Another Travelin' Song
8. Landlocked Blues - (with Emmylou Harris)
9. Poison Oak
10. Road To Joy
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| CD
Puchase |
Title: I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
Artist: Bright Eyes
Bright Eyes' Conor Oberst continues to earn his reputation as our most respected young troubadour with almost frightening ease. For the past few years he's been tagged "rock's boy genius" by the music press. These albums are a soundly articulated slice of modern life rolled into two very different records, both bursting with all the heartfelt poetry for which Bright Eyes' records have earned their acclaim. Of course, the rough edges haven't gone away - the palpitation of a splintering note, the crack of a voice as it overextends, the clumsy thump of a misplaced thumb. It's all still there. But there's a glorious new level of depth, a maturation of texture, writing and delivery. His best work yet.
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| POSTER |
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 Connor Oberst’s singular sound rises above everything else in the messages that Bright Eyes bring to I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning. While the supporting cast changes from song to song, Oberst’s direction and poetic approach is present throughout.
 There are sad threads running through “At the Bottom of Everything,” an unsettling presentation of dichotomies and allusions to events past and present. While the end result is Oberst’s waking from a dream, we are still left with the understanding that the subconscious has awakened within him, and he knows that there must be something more to what he thinks about during the day. This restless, dreaming state lives on in “We Are Nowhere And It’s Now.” One might be tempted to stay down in the depression that Bright Eyes illustrates here, but the depression seems to be the reality that the song challenges and penetrates. Oberst sings “If you swear that there’s no truth and who cares, who do you say you’re right. Why are you scared to dream of God, when it’s salvation that you want.” How many people have stated with surety that there are no absolutes (truth and God included) or admitted that they needed help but would never admit to a divine authority? Bright Eyes is calling all the skeptics and cynics out, and his waitress seems to bring him hope for the future.
 The complications are evident in “Old Soul Song,” as Oberst longs for photographic evidence that would be truthful like a Bible should be, but lacks the convicting power that is expected there. Other things (drug addiction, sex) get in the way of his relationship in “Lua,” but he is a realist enough to know that escapes are addictive too. “Train Under Water” continues with a set of tricky rules for relationships, dodging infidelity and commitment at the same time. Having already incorporated sleeping/waking, Bright Eyes now draws on the images of water/raindrops and new birth. Oberst certainly sees his relationships looking back and in the “First Day of My Life,” he documents the discovery of a new kind of love, that opened his eyes.
 Bright Eyes seeks true relationships and clarity of thought and searches dreams again in “Another Travelin’ Song” to find them. Depression is evident but the way in which it is presented up front implies that Oberst is battling (even when he says that he’ll “fight like hell to hide that I’ve given up.”) His inability to successfully overcome this mindset gets brought forward again in “Landlocked Blues.” Alcohol is a possible escape but Oberst still struggles with the interaction of need and commitment in relationships. He quotes “if you love something give it away” but his interpretation requires completely leaving it behind.
 “Poison Oak” documents a childhood hurt [My two cents: his brother’s sexuality forced a wedge within their family and he left Oberst behind] that is reinforced in “Road to Joy.” Drugs and women keep away the sense of isolation, but only as long as the physical thrill lasts. Oberst’s parents “have their religion, but sleep in separate houses.” Clearly the discrepancy between what they said and what they did tore away his ability to embrace organized religion as a reasonable guide. How do our actions affect how other people see our beliefs, whether social, political or theological? Obviously, Bright Eyes recognizes problematic issues in our lives, notes the potential of faith, but has personal experiences that keep the possibility from becoming a reality.
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BIO
Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground, the Bright Eyes tale has taken many unexpected twists and turns. Conor Oberst and his ever-changing line up of musical comrades appeared on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” “The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn,” and were a prominent addition to the MTV2-televised 2003 Shortlist Awards. In October of 2004 he was invited to join Bruce Springsteen and REM on an arena tour of swing states in advance of the presidential election. His performance at those shows sealed his reputation as a creative force, able to command the attention of thousands of rock fans with, at times, just his voice and an acoustic guitar.
Over the past two years the young musician has found himself hurled from his indie rock enclave onto the world’s stage. While reaching new heights of commercial success, he was hailed by fans as the finest songwriter of his generation. But he remained, and remains, an artist unwilling to leave his hometown label for any major label’s promises.
All the while, critical acclaim has spread far and wide with Bright Eyes selling out several hugely lauded tours and finding an ever swelling and ravenous audience throughout the world. Since Lifted, Oberst has released an almost constant stream of new material for collaborative EPs, tribute albums, and charity records. He ventured into the studio with Nebraska folk-pop outfit Tilly And The Wall, co-producing their debut album Wild Like Children and then releasing it on his newly established record label, Team Love. And yet, despite all of this recording and performing, it is his songwriting that has taken unmitigated precedence.
Conor’s new songs are undeniably his finest to date. These new compositions have been rolled into two separate, cohesive records: I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, which will simultaneously be released on January 24th. While a plethora of this new material was born from an early 2003 relocation to Manhattan, 2004 saw Conor’s return to Presto! Studios in Lincoln to record with long time collaborator and producer Mike Mogis.
Recording since the age of 13 and tagged “rock’s boy genius” by the music press for the past few years, these two albums provide unequivocal proof that the now 24 year-old Oberst belongs to the lineage of great American songwriters. These albums are a soundly articulated slice of modern American life rolled into two very different records. The new songs are bursting with all of the heartfelt poetry for which Bright Eyes records have earned their acclaim. The rough edges are still there — the splintering of a note held too long, the crack of the voice as it reaches slightly too far, the inadvertent thump of a thumb against a fret — but there is a glorious new level of depth and texture to the writing and delivery. Recorded back-to-back and scheduled to be released simultaneously, more out of necessity than any grand art plan, the two albums work in tandem to elucidate both sides of Conor’s recent creative output.
The first (as in, the first to be laid down on tape) is titled I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning; a country-tinged mélange of Conor’s finest acoustic songs, featuring guest vocal appearances from Emmylou Harris and Jim James (My Morning Jacket).
The second album Oberst recorded, Digital Ash In A Digital Urn, is a more produced, band-centric album featuring cameo appearances by Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
As has become expected of Bright Eyes recordings, the albums feature an array of talented comrades: Jesse Harris, Jason Boesel of Rilo Kiley, multi-instrumentalist and producer Mike Mogis, Nick White of Tilly And The Wall, Matt Maginn of Cursive, Clay Leverett and Andy LeMaster of Now It’s Overhead, former The Good Life member Jiha Lee, Maria Taylor of Azure Ray, Clark Beachle of The Faint, Alex McMannus of The Bruces, Jake Bellows of Neva Dinova and Jimmy Tamborello of The Postal Service.
--From the official web site |
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