Bright Eyes Channel Neil Young

Conor Oberst has drawn a lot of comparisons to musical acolytes like Bob Dylan in his young years, but the proof has always been in the melodies and the lyrics. Oberst has a talent for writing earthy stories of youthful exasperation in a New York by way of the midwest fashion.



2005 saw Bright Eyes making a big splash with the release of two studio albums, both of which were well accepted, though most looked at the dewy eyed folk of I'm Wide Awake It's Morning as the superior record. Now though Oberst and Co. have released a collection of B-Sides as a bit of a taster for the upcoming album Cassadaga and I have to say that in many years I've not been so impressed or excited. The EP entitled Four Winds opens on the titular track and brings in tons of biblical imagery along with the same impassioned vocal delivery that Oberst excels at as his voice still quavers around the syllables of every word, this time around though the parallels aren't so much Bob Dylan as they are Neil Young. The harmonies are beautiful and the music is striking with the strains of violins and touches of folksy guitar and banjo. Stray Dog Freedom keeps the feeling of Weld era Neil Young with a dazzling lead guitar line, and a dreamy feeling that offsets the heavier use of electric guitar extremely well. This EP is worth getting for the fact that it shows that even on B-Sides this band is more talented than a vast majority of its contemporaries.

Some of the fun of Four Winds is spotting the guest appearances like Ben Kweller, and M. Ward, and the video for the eponymous track is brilliant for the fact that it showcases a more confident and capable musician in Conor Oberst. He no longer looks scared to be in front of an audience and carries a swagger that you'd swear he stole from Johnny Cash. The fact is that I can't wait for Cassadaga, and in the impossible event that it's a flop then this EP can still keep me satisfied.