Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Bright Eyes
Cassadaga
(Saddle Creek)
Conor Obrest, the saddest boy in all the realm, seems to have been sticking to his medication, because Cassadaga has more sunshine coming out of it than his entire previous catalog put together. Everything sees to have gotten a good coat of polish: Obrest’s voice has much less of the waver to it, the production is flawless without burying the songs, and his songwriting has much greater nuance to it. Cassadaga is replete with organ swells, string sections and slide guitar, somehow taking Ryan Adams’ version of Nashville Bob Dylan and moving it into the right direction. “If the Brakeman Turns My Way” holds the strongest Dylan comparison, where mothers and children and loneliness all drift in unending couplets over a gradual building gospel groove. More cerebral numbers like “Cleanse Song” remind me more of modern sepia-tone poets like M. Ward and Damien Jurardo. All comparisons aside, its Obrest’s powerful songwriting that makes this first of hopefully many great records to come.
Essential Tracks: No One Would Riot for Less, If the Brakeman Turns My Way
Recommended if you like: Richard Buckner, Bob Dylan’s Nashville years, wistful sunsets
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