Conor Oberst's Supreme Solo
Bright Eye's front man Conor Oberst releases his new solo album, Upside Down Mountain, this week dealing with themes ranging from the banality of life, escape and death, heavy themes for a man who is only 34 years of age, and if that's a dark intro, fear not, as the joyous tone of the music arches over all of these subjects to bring us a great album yet again.
The first single from the album, 'Hundreds of Ways', acknowledges that, yeah, life is tough, but how are you as an individual going to deal with that, give up or find one of many ways to get through it, essentially, a song of hope. Here's Oberst giving a brief intro and performing the track on Last.fm.
In an interview with last weekends Sunday Times, he was fiercely critical of some aspects of the Internet Age and how vacuous it has become; "Our age is the last to remember the world before the internet, and I'm happy I do....What is damaging to the human spirit is, we all have a void inside, and all want connection to other people, but our culture creates a false togetherness. Most of you have taken 20 pictures of yourself today and waited for someone to tap them and tell you, 'You're beautiful', to me, that's real self-absorption."....oh, sorry, I was just checking my Instagram there
While Oberst's music undoubtedly has its roots in folk, his balladeering cranks up on a lot of tracks and reminds us of artists such as fellow-Nebraksan Elliott Smith (below) on the wonderful 'Enola Gay' and Ryan Adams (on 'Kick'), but there also seems to be a scattering of 80's-era Bob Dylan seeping through the album
Bright Eye's have had regular album releases over the years but this is Oberst's first solo work since 2008, it's hard to believe that he was only 13 years of age when he released his debut back in 1993, recorded in the basement of his parent's house, his musical output has been incessant since then. Here's a flavour from his self-titled album back in '08, single 'Souled Out', showing uncharacteristic brevity.
In many ways Conor Oberst's music awkwardly transcends tastes, his lyrics have great depth, and while the content and themes can be a bit morose they always end up veering towards optimism and that's often accompanied by warm-sounding music. He is also a bit of a rare breed these days, a genuinely thoughtful troubadour that will appeal to those who enjoy singer / songwriter type albums that aren't just about the same old tired clichés we've become surrounded by.
It's hard to find any fault with Upside Down Mountain, both lyrically and musically it is excellent, and you've been a fan of Bright Eye's over the years you'll be delighted with this piece, different enough to be distinguished form the band's sound but retaining enough familiarity to leave you in comfort. It is no longer becoming an exaggeration to say that Oberst is one of the finest song-writers around at present, and quite frankly his new album is evidence of this, it's 4/5 stars for Conor.
