Categories : Folk + Roots, Music Reviews, Rock + Pop.
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Rating: 4/5 Released: March 6, 2007 Reviewer: Nathan Atnikov |
On ‘Stray Dog Freedom,’ off of his new EP Four Winds, Bright Eyes’ Conor Oberst is telling a seemingly innocuous tale about finding a stray dog and feeding him, until the line, “And we tried to name him / but he ran away / once he knew his freedom was at stake.†It’s this ability to say something stark and affecting when it doesn’t seem like he’s saying anything at all that makes him such an interesting listen.
Countless people have been called ‘The Next Dylan’ since the late ‘60s, and none have ever actually been it. Bright Eyes isn’t it either, but he might be closer than any of his predecessors. His ability to sing about the end of the world and make it sound hopeful is what sets him apart. As on the title track, anyone could sing, “the Bible’s blind, the Torah’s deaf, the Qur’an’s mute,†but Oberst adds, “if you burn them all together you get close to the truth.â€
Musically, Oberst continues to slowly build on each effort. The arrangements here are certainly more complex than I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning, and not even comparable to Digital Ash. He also enlists the help of his new found collaborator M. Ward, who lends his deft melodic touch to a handful of the album’s six songs.
The oft-heard complaint about Oberst is that he takes himself too seriously, but who said that considering yourself a joke is any better? Sometimes, somebody needs to stand on the soapbox and scream what we’re all thinking.
Buy Four Winds from iTunes >> 
