These came out in 2005 — or at least that’s when I got them. Here’s what I said about ’em back then (with some minor editing):
Indie-roots phenom Conor Oberst also goes by the nom de disque Bright Eyes. It goes well with his bright future. Not to mention his bright past.
Sure, the Omaha singer-songwriter is only 24, but he’s been performing and recording for a decade. And he’s been a critics’ darling for almost as long. He’s been fawned over by music mags. He’s been likened to Paul Westerberg, Gram Parsons and even Bob Dylan. If you pay attention to taboid rumours, gossip and/or scuttlebutt, he’s even dated Winona Ryder, a music-icon rite of passage if there ever was one.
This week, the singer with the shivery voice takes another page from the rock-god playbook by simultaneously releasing two CDs: I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning and Digital Ash In A Digital Urn. For Oberst, this isn’t just some Axl Rose-style ego trip. Each disc is a distinct fully formed entity that complements and contrasts the other. Wide Awake is a raucous collection of country-rock and folk. Digital Ash is a darker, experimental affair full of glitchy electronics. Both are chock full of eloquent musings on life, death, faith, time and love, along with beautifully ringing melodies and some of the most daring songcraft of Oberst’s career.
Put them together and you’ve got the first two undeniably great discs of 2005. And two perfect candidates for a track-by-track critique.
I’m Wide Awke, It’s Morning
At The Bottom Of Everything | 4:34
Every great songwriter is a storyteller at heart. Oberst takes that notion literally on this unconventional opener, grabbing us by the ears with a spoken-word tale of a horrific plane crash that leads into a strummy, unnervingly optimistic slice of backporch Americana about embracing the afterlife.
BEST LINE: “Into the face of every criminal who is strapped into a chair / We must stare, we must stare, we must stare.”
We Are Nowhere And It’s Now | 4:10
A lazy, shimmery little country waltz on the nature of existence, blessed (in more ways than one) by backing vocals from none other than honky-tonk angel Emmylou Harris.
BEST LINE: “I’ve been sleeping so strange / With a head full of pesticide.”
Old Soul Song | 4:28
Driven by a slowly insistent beat, daubed with weeping pedal steel guitar, this lushly appointed track tells the tale of an anti-war demonstration that erupts into violence.
BEST LINE: “All the way home I held your camera like a Bible / Just wishing so bad that it held some kind of truth.”
Lua | 4:28
This delicate acoustic guitar ballad about staying up all night doing drugs with a doomed lover is one of the album’s most tragic and compelling cuts.
BEST LINE: “What was normal in the evening / By the morning seems insane.”
Train Under Water | 6:04
The testimonial of a man more in love with New York City than with his girlfriend, wrapped in a warm blanket of low-key honky-tonk.
BEST LINE: “I’m riding all over this island / Looking for someone to open my eyes.”
First Day Of My Life | 3:04
New love is like being born again, posits Oberst in this quiet acoustic gem.
BEST LINE: “Don’t know where I am, don’t know where I’ve been / But I know where I want to go.”
Another Travellin’ Song | 4:13
Another standout: To the boom-chikka beat of a two-step with scratchy guitars, a Dylan-circa-’65 atmosphere and more vocals from Emmylou, Oberst kicks himself for going when the going gets tough.
BEST LINE: “I will kick and scream or kneel and bleed / I’ll fight like hell to hide that I’ve given up.”
Land Locked Blues | 5:44
In this achingly poignant acoustic waltz, a story of personal breakup expands into a metaphor for the war in Iraq. Another haunting vocal from Harris is the icing on the bittersweet cake. BEST LINE: “The world’s got me dizzy again / You’d think after 22 years I’d be used to the spin.”
Poison Oak | 4:40
Golden candlelit nostalgia for a lost childhood, accompanied by a tearful steel guitar.
BEST LINE: “Let the poets cry themselves to sleep / And all their tearful words will turn back into steam.”
Road To Joy | 3:54
Yep, it’s Beethoven. Oberst borrows the Paint it Blackish melody of Ludwig Van’s ninth — then cranks it up to a blistering cacophony.
BEST LINE: “Well I could have been a famous singer / If I had someone else’s voice / But failure’s always sounded better / Let’s f– it up boys, make some noise!”
Digital Ash In A Digital Urn
Time Code | 4:28
Real-world samples of human breathing and subway platforms merge with funereal synths and distorted beats to form a woozy dreamscape whose spell is broken by an alarm clock. Are you wide awake? It’s morning.
BEST LINE: “Drink liquid clocks till I see God.”
Gold Mine Gutted | 3:56
A lurching rhythm, a chiming melody and swooshy synths colour these regrets of lost love.
BEST LINE: “It was Don DeLillo, whiskey, and a blinking midnight clock.”
Arc Of Time | 3:54
Conor ponders eternal salvation to another offbalance backbeat, this time interlaced with noodly guitars and synths, rubbery bass lines and handclaps.
BEST LINE: “I hear if you make friends with Jesus Christ / You will get right up from that chalk outline.”
Down In A Rabbit Hole | 4:33
Dreamy layered synths, mournful strings and a reverberating groove illustrate a dark saga seemingly about a drug binge — or perhaps an overdose. Nick Zinner from Yeah Yeah Yeahs guests.
BEST LINE: “If your thoughts should turn to death / Got to stomp them out like a cigarette.”
Take It Easy (Love Nothing) | 3:19
A young man, dumped by an older flame, vows never to get burned again in this lightly chugging, guitar-laced ditty with ghostly echoes of I Think We’re Alone Now.
BEST LINE: “Now I do as I please, and I lie through my teeth / Someone might get hurt, but it won’t be me.”
Hit The Switch | 4:47
The evils of alcohol, juxtaposed with a surprisingly bouncy beat and a deceptively happy melody.
BEST LINE: “I’m thinking of quitting drinking again / I know I’ve said that a couple of times.”
I Believe In Symmetry | 4:42
Brittle shards of guitar ride a bouncing gait and sweeping strings as Conor marvels at the invincibility of time.
BEST LINE: “And so I raise my glass to symmetry / To the second hand and its accuracy.”
Devil In The Details | 3:58
A wobbly, ambient dreamscape coalesces into a darkly poignant piano ballad of betrayal and loss.
BEST LINE: “There was love I meant / There were accidents / So tell me which is which.”
Ship In A Bottle | 3:27
Aided by a lightly buoyant electro-beat and a tender horn line, Oberst likens love to the titular miniature treasure.
BEST LINE: “The worm in my heart’s the apple of my eye.”
Light Pollution | 3:04
The itchy guitars, electro-soul, plaintive vocals and wistful lyrics about an old childhood friend could be a Mick Jones leftover from the glory days of The Clash.
BEST LINE: “You gotta earn this living somehow / You’re good as dead without a bank account.”
Theme From Piñata | 3:18
A pretty melody meets a squirrelly synth on the periphery of a low-impact groove. Sure, love hurts. But it hurts so good.
BEST LINE: “If you could just crack the shell open / I’m sure inside you would find something sweet.”
Easy / Lucky / Free | 5:31
Oberst rides off into the eternal sunset to the sound of a lazy beatbox and a mournful steel guitar.
BEST LINE: “We’ll lay in bags as dead as leaves / All together for eternity.”
