Music to drink tea by
Posts tagged Conor Oberst
Conor Oberst in product placement shocker
02 years ago
in MP3s
I have a lot of time for Conor Oberst. I was a little late to jump on the Bright Eyes bus, and if I’m honest, I got off a stop or two early too. I haven’t particularly loved his dabbling with the more country orientated sound, but even the last album, helpfully titled Conor Oberst still had an air of quality about it. For each misstep, there would be a lovely slice of Americana. I know it’s a romantic image to us foreigners, but few records have adopted the feel of the American road trip so well as that record.
Now it’s time for round two of the “really, it’s not Bright Eyes” saga, and based on Nikorette, I fear we’re in the exact same territory again. It certainly sounds nice, if a little predictable. It’s not the sound that wins one over on an Oberst record though. It’s all about the words. Words which seem to be getting a little lazy. There’s nothing wrong with any of this, and maybe it’s unfair of me to expect more than this. If this were another band, I’d probably love it.
It doesn’t really matter though as I’ll still go through the whole album. As well as the next one. And the one after that. For even though the results may not always be perfect, eventually Oberst will write a great album. Everything he’s done so far has shown signs of it. It’s just a matter of making it all come together.
Outer South is out now on Wichita Recordings.
Conor Oberst – Danny Callahan
03 years ago
in MP3s
I’m not really a fan of country twang Bright Eyes. I’m off the camp that the guy peaked around the time of Lifted. While I enjoyed I’m Wide Awake when it was first released, I now suspect that Digital Ash was probably the stronger album. As such, I probably shouldn’t really like new project Conor Oberst & the Mystic Vally Band.
And I don’t. I don’t have anything against it all, and some of the songs are rather catchy, but I can already tell it’s not going to be the kind of record I’ll return to after these initial plays. It’s inoffensive enough to my ears, but it doesn’t have the relevance that the Bright Eyes albums did. Maybe I am being unfair in comparing them, after all this is a different project. That’s part of the problem though. It just doesn’t sound different when it really should.
