Labels: wichita
Review by: Dan Baker
the packaging on this cd is so good, probably the best since the first elliot full length, cool archaic maroon wallpaper with a mirror in the middle. nice.
bright eyes is singer, guitarist, organist and songwriter conor oberst with the help of some other people who play other stuff.
this is pretty decent, sometimes reminding me of the up-tempo sad pop rock of silver scooter and death cab for cutie, but generally this actually reminds me of acoustic wanderings of the red house painters. there is a difference in the songwriting, a bit more simple, with less imaginative progressions and chords and the vocals are harsher, more aggressive but the rhp influence – the intelligent lyrics about girls and places, and the minimalism – is certainly present.
the best thing about this cd is the surreal sample at the end, where chris talks to a radio interviewer about his album, and says how his five brothers called patrick died in a bath tub and voices fly all around the background and then he sings a song which hasn’t been written yet. bizarrre. the extra r in bizarrre is for Rock.