Categories : Folk + Roots, Music Reviews, Rock + Pop.
 |
Rating: 3.5 / 5 Reviewer: Steve Venegas |
Every generation has one overachiever that makes everyone else look lazy by comparison. That one uber-hard worker that will do better than the sum of their peers by seemingly sleepwalking from one monumental act of greatness to the next. Oh you just released you’re first album? That’s nice. This troubadour did that when he was 13. That’s 15 years ago for those of you at home keeping track.
Now with dozens of emotionally charged and soulful gripping albums under his belt as the front man of Bright Eyes and a few other projects, Conor Oberst brings his latest solo offering on the Merge label. His fourth in total, and first in about 12 years.
The self-titled album is full of acoustic guitar laden melodies evoking images wistful autumns in the prairies, bawdy barnyard sing-a-longs, and Kerouac-like dharma-drifting as Oberst once again tries to prove that he should be the rightful successor to Neil Young’s aging throne. The best example of this time around would be ‘Moab,’ where the pride of Omaha let’s us know that “there’s nothing that the road can’t heal.” But at this rate, the only people who will be at his coronation will be the legions of bobby-sockers that clog the front rows of his performances and swoon at every heavy-hearted vibrato.
It’s not that he lacks the earnestness or drive to rise to the occasion, but it may be the fact his signature style has yet to mature to the level of the mutton-chopped maestro. Sure, there is fewer incidence where Conor sounds like he’s about to breakdown into waterworks, but it’s like he’ll forever be the gifted teenager and not the experienced journeyman he so desperately craves to recognized.
That being said, the kid’s still pretty damn impressive.
