Album: I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning
Artist: Bright Eyes
Born: Omaha, Nebraska
Released: January 2005
Genre: Indie Folk
Conor Oberst was one of those child prodigies whose songwriting skills and acoustic guitar playing meant he'd inevitably be compared to Bob Dylan. Except there's one crucial difference; while Dylan prefers to hide his private life behind cryptic lyrics and false information, Oberst wears his heart on his sleeve. Some may even find his songs, delivered in a wobbly and fragile voice, a bit too self-centred and confessional. There are times I find Oberst's raw emoting a bit off-putting but when things click, his songs can be really powerful. Oberst began recording at just 13, started touring aged 16 and released his first LP at 18 years old under the name Bright Eyes, with guitarist, producer and multi-instrumentalist Mike Mogis often featuring as one of his longer-term collaborators. Released when Oberst was just 24 years old, I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning was his seventh LP, and was actually launched by label Saddle Creek at the same time as Bright Eyes' eighth record, Digital Ash In A Digital Urn, Oberst's experiment in electronica. For the album sessions, Oberst drafted in help from members of Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Postal Service (who recorded one of my favourite indie tracks, Such Great Heights), but the main star is Oberst's unadorned singing, which is also a major feature of I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning.
Conor Oberst was one of those child prodigies whose songwriting skills and acoustic guitar playing meant he'd inevitably be compared to Bob Dylan. Except there's one crucial difference; while Dylan prefers to hide his private life behind cryptic lyrics and false information, Oberst wears his heart on his sleeve. Some may even find his songs, delivered in a wobbly and fragile voice, a bit too self-centred and confessional. There are times I find Oberst's raw emoting a bit off-putting but when things click, his songs can be really powerful. Oberst began recording at just 13, started touring aged 16 and released his first LP at 18 years old under the name Bright Eyes, with guitarist, producer and multi-instrumentalist Mike Mogis often featuring as one of his longer-term collaborators. Released when Oberst was just 24 years old, I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning was his seventh LP, and was actually launched by label Saddle Creek at the same time as Bright Eyes' eighth record, Digital Ash In A Digital Urn, Oberst's experiment in electronica. For the album sessions, Oberst drafted in help from members of Yeah Yeah Yeahs and The Postal Service (who recorded one of my favourite indie tracks, Such Great Heights), but the main star is Oberst's unadorned singing, which is also a major feature of I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning.
Another important collaborator on this record is Emmylou Harris, who provides some of the stunning harmonies and works as a brilliant foil to Oberst's more anxious, tender vocals. One of her most memorable contributions comes on We Are Nowhere, It's Now, with its lovely chorus combining perfectly with Obert's fragile lyrics ("sleeping so strange, head full of pesticide") that create a sense of urban alienation. Right from powerful opener, At The Bottom Of Everything, the album explores Oberst's initial impressions of life in New York, with his outsider perspective on the 24-hour lifestyle of drug-fuelled nights and falling in and out of love. Some of my favourite tracks are Old Soul Song, with its mournful steel pedal guitar sound and strong "emo" flavour, the powerful Poison Oak and Lua, which is one of the best examples of Oberst's talents. Lua features Oberst's raw singing without a backing band, allowing his writing and singing to come to the fore ("Might die from medication, but we sure killed all the pain"). Bright Eyes re-recorded a version of Lua as a single, containing a duet with Gillian Welch, another exceptional folk musician of the past decade or so. Oberst hasn't slowed his output in recent years, and I really enjoyed his 2009 album recorded as Monsters Of Folk (a supergroup consisting of Bright Eyes, My Morning Jacket's Jim James and M. Ward). Like Neil Young, he mixes Americana with powerfully outspoken politics and has been one of the most articulate young musicians in an era when bland is the dominant approach. In recent years, he's also worked with up and coming artists like First Aid Kit and Jonathan Wilson, but there's the feeling he has at least one more great album in his locker.
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