I have every reason to hate this album, but I don't, not really. Conor Oberst has sort of become the poster boy for emo whininess, but honestly I don't see much of that in his first record. His voice is pretty fantastic: he sounds less like a whiny emo kid than some mentally disturbed Die Hard villain telling John McClane through a cell phone that he mustn't do whatever he's doing or his daughter will die. The vocals on the first track in particular are masterful, so well-recorded that you can practically hear Oberst's spit hit the microphone. The lyrics aren't too special but what matters here is that Oberst is able to
sell it. Also, the infamous "An Attempt to Tip the Scales" is
hilarious. Why do people hate this? Why is it okay for rap albums to have dozens of (often unfunny) skits when this one hilarious skit on a folk album gets repeatedly slammed? It's not a real interview! It's scripted! Oberst is poking fun at himself! Anyway, the problem with this album? It contains not one single memorable melody. Not one. The songs are basically repetitive dirges, some of which are
rhythmically interesting, but not melodically. Now melodies aren't exactly Priority #1 in folk music, most of them being stolen anyway, but their total absence here becomes a little tiresome on an album that lasts nearly an hour. Oberst tries to cover up the songs' melodic and structural primitiveness with his psychotic vocals, but interest in that fades pretty quick. So: not as bad as you might expect. And it's a hell of a lot better than the goddamned Mountain Goats.
MY RATING:
6.5
Bright Eyes - "Sunrise, Sunset"
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