Bright Eyes – Four Winds

Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst has one of those voices you love to hate to love, and has been pretty much everywhere on the musical radar since graduating his childhood band Commander Venus and donning the better recognized “Bright Eyes” moniker.  Give a listen to his older A Collection of Songs Written and Recorded… LP, and you’ll find a burgeoning young artist in the throes of adolescence, crooning in a wailing vibrato over four-track recordings done in a rush in his Omaha house.

But Conor’s come a long way since then.  He’s struck moments of profound genius between then and now; 1999’s Fevers and Mirrors is one of the most haunting and endearing albums of the late 90’s, and finds Conor facing himself; not so much a little kid banging away on toy keyboards and singing about his seemingly growing abundance of ex-lovers.

And even since then, Bright Eyes has come a pretty long way.  They’ve gathered a following worldwide, and have released a series of increasingly better and more accessible albums.  On 2007’s Cassadaga, we find Conor Oberst no longer facing himself, and no longer stuck on a past full of heartbreak — instead, we get a Conor that’s facing a nation.

The single from this album, “Four Winds,” features a line-up of singers and musicians from Omaha’s indie scene, including Maria Taylor from the enchanting duo Azure Ray (indie heart-throbs abound!) and and Now It’s Overhead guru Andy LeMaster.  It’s a long shot from his original blend of melancholy and synthesizers, and instead explodes from the get-go with country/folk ferocity and a snarling scathe of politics and religion.  Sounds like someone’s got a bone to pick.  It’s no wonder he’s been brandishing his Bob Dylan comparisons well; if there’s a spokesman for the times, it’s gotta be Conor.

If you’re out and about in the world this year, catch Conor at the following dates and times:

(ripped from the Bright Eyes mySpace page)

And while you’re stopping by the mySpace, check out the free samples they have up.  You can purchase the CD for $1.00USD per track if you’re so inclined.

Previous Bright Eyes releases worth your hard-earned dough:

• (1999) Fevers and Mirrors
• (2002) Lifted, or the Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground
• (2005) I’m Wide Awake it’s Morning
• (2006) Noise Floor (Rarities 1998-2005