Yahoo! Music Review

Released on 09/04/07
Label: Polydor

Oh, the pressures of carrying the weighty burden of expectation. Frequently tagged as a "wunderkind" by those seemingly in the know and running one of America's hippest indie labels with Saddle Creek - the people who brought us Two Gallants and Rilo Kiley amongst others - Bright Eyes' not-so-sinister Mr Big Conor Oberst's career has been chequered to say the least.

Contrary to the end, Oberst's previous offerings - the simultaneously released "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning" and "Digital Ash In A Digital Urn" - where enough to stretch the patience of even his staunchest supporters (specifically the case with the latter album) while his appearance at the 2005 Glastonbury Festival almost snuffed out the goodwill offered from these shores. Best described as "tired and emotional", Oberst's berating of the late and much lamented DJ John Peel as a "coke-head" was met with a collective gasp of outrage so palpable that Oberst's subsequent gorging of humble pie was heard several continents away.

So much for the follies of youth, because with "Cassadaga" Oberst has released his most fully realised work to date. Personal and political, Bright Eyes' sixth album tackles big issues with a compassion and empathy that never once resorts to grating hectoring (hello, Get Cape! Wear Cape! Now sod off!) or empty posturing. Moreover, despite its lofty post 9/11 themes, "Cassadaga" is a collection of songs that draws in even the most casual of listeners rather than alienating them.

"Clairaudients (Kill Or Be Killed)" damns the war in Iraq, while "Four Winds" defiantly tears strips from the organised religion ("The Bible is blind, The Torah is deaf, The Qur'an is mute") that's caused so much mayhem in the Middle East. But what prevents these songs from drowning in a sea of despair is Oberst's own human frailties and his ability to negotiate and reconcile these topics with deliciously accessible folk and vernacular musical expression.

The music industry is comprehensively trashed on "Soul Singer In A Session Band" as "plastic piranhas in the city of salt" plan the Next Big Thing, while elsewhere the consequences of political silence are vividly drawn on the future shock of "No One Would Riot For Less". And yet even here Oberst finds a shard of optimism as he sings: "I'm leaving this place but there is nothing, I'm planning to take, Just you". Heartfelt, honest and compelling, "Cassadaga" is garnished with melodies so lush that Bright Eyes' ascent to the next level of recognition is absolutely assured.

    by Julian Marszalek