Bright Eyes consist of way too many members to count, but if their was one that I need to mention it would be the genius Conor Oberst. Conor as many of you already know provides the vocals, accoustic guitar, and the insightful lyrics just to name a few things he does. This album fully generates a depressed environment for its listeners, and while the lyrics are nothing short of mind blowing they challenge you to listen closely but allow you to interpret them however you like. In fact I wouldn't be hesitant to say that these lyrics are some of the best I've ever heard. In the book they are plotted down like a story which just adds to the feel. I've seriously contemplated that some of these lyrics are in fact genius. To give you a feel of them try this one from the song "False Advertising."
In a house, by myself, I hear the ice start to melt, and watch the rooftops weep for the sunlight. And I know what must change. Fuck my face. Fuck my name. They are brief and false advertisements for a soul I dont have. Something true I have lacked and spent my whole life trying to make up for.
Still not satisfied try this one from "Nothing Gets Crossed Out."
. The future has got me worried such awful thoughts. My head is a carousel of pictures. The spinning never stops. I just want someone to walk in front and I'll follow the leader. Like when I fell under the weight of a schoolboy crush. Started carrying her books and doing lots of drugs.
As I was saying the lyrics are in short amazing, and really can only be appreciated if you're listening to the music too. The only thing I was slightly dissapointed with was that they were not as good as Bright Eyes previous release, "Fevers and Mirrors."
The music has an odd change in this release because it has more songs focused on the use of many instruments including: Clarinet, piano, cello, harmonica, french horn, bassoon, trumpet, trombone, violin, keyboards, ect. A coulple of songs were even leaning towards a bluegrass sound which caught me off guard. Amazingly they managed to pull it off creating that folk sound, but providing the same feel when you listen. No comical interviews are found in this cd, but I will tell you that in False Advertising 3/4 the way through something very humorous happens during the song. Lastly the music is just brilliant whether its slow or picked up a little bit I have to congratulate all the musicians that participated on the record and say they did a wonderful job.
I'm not going to discorage anyone from buying this record because while it may be slow to your run of the mill punk rock even the hardcore kids may enjoy this gem. Conor Oberst is on the right track to becoming very known, and believe me he deserves all the credit he may get. I recommend this to everyone because I know this will reach a spot in my top ten of the year when its all said and done.