On his new song “Classic Cars,” Bright Eyes’s Conor Oberst sings, “Life is how it is/Not how it was.” It’s a statement the earnest singer-songwriter has obviously taken to heart. His latest album, Cassadaga, is all about moving forward and leaving the past in a heap on some deserted roadside somewhere. It is also his most accessible disc. At 27 years of age, Oberst is shaking monkeys off his back left, right, and sideways. One of those hundred pound gorillas he’s always had to heft around is the “next Bob Dylan” tag. Instead of having such a hallowed label weigh the music down, Bright Eyes (also consisting of Mike Mogis and Nate Walcott) have turned their wispy, introspective sound inside out to create a musical landscape that has more sonic space. It’s downright earthy in a Neil Young (both with and without Crazy Horse) sort of way.
In order to trot out the older and wiser version of his band, Oberst assembled a great group of supporting players to back him up. Vocalists Sherri and Stacy DuPree (Eisley), Z Berg (The Like), and Rachael Yamagata provide ethereal harmonies on a good number of tracks, while M. Ward and Gillian Welch also lend a helping hand. But perhaps one of the most successful collaborations on the album is between the band and another guest, drummer Janet Weiss (Sleater-Kinney). The sound this musical pack creates on “Soul Singer in a Session Band” is a revelation. The guitars are set to twang while Weiss pumps out a solid rock beat. The result is golden, part bluesy rock and part alt-country.
Oberst also puts his sensitive side on display. This has sometimes been a problem in the past when, like most young singer-songwriters, he came off as whiny or too self-involved. This time, the youth has grown into a man who sings love songs like “Make a Plan to Love Me” like a true troubadour. The tune, an experiment in lushness that adds strings and harmonies to create a sweet '60s pop sound, is also the most hummable song you’ll find on Cassadaga. Melody has never been Bright Eyes’s strong suit. In fact, Oberst has almost seemed completely uninterested in it most of the time. There’s still not a lot to sing along to in the verse/chorus/verse sort of way, but that’s a very small complaint to have when we’ve been gifted with an album that so successfully shakes off the past and points to an incredible-sounding future.
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