Healing world's wounds

Healing world's wounds

Courtesy The lyrics of “Cassadaga” suggest Conor Oberst has turned his attention to the world’s problems instead of his own.

By JESSICA BROOKS Satellite Correspondent
4/13/2007

Bright Eyes' Oberst still searching for the answers

In his seventh album, Conor Oberst has finally made the transition from 20-something pensive poet to Ryan Adams-esque mature adult.

Though these are two very different sides of the Bright Eyes' frontman, he's retained the despairing, indie-boy wonder within his songs on the new album "Cassadaga."

The 27-year-old Oberst has been a professional musician since the age of 13, recording and distributing his work on his own label, Saddle Creek Records.

Noted for his desolate lyrics, often categorized as either "whiney" or "genius," the lyrics of "Cassadaga" suggest he's turned his attention to the world's problems instead of his own. This may be because of his trip to the record's namesake, a small town in Florida with more than 100 psychics, whom Oberst claims sorted out some of his anxieties.

As indie musicians grow older, their lyrics become nostalgic and their tunes acquire a retrospective twang. "Middleman" is an example of this, with alt-country violins accompanying the lyrics:

So I keep my footlights shining bright

Just like I keep my exits wide

'Cause I never know when it's time to go

It's too crowded now inside.

I picture Oberst living as if he could die tomorrow, trying to prepare himself for the future and where it may lead him.

In the single "Four Winds," he takes another swipe at America's love affair with religion:

The Bible's blind

The Torah's deaf

The Qur'an's mute

If you burned them all together

You'd get close to the truth.

The protest song is reminiscent of "Road to Joy" on "I'm Wide Awake It's Morning" in which the singer stands strongly against the war in Iraq:

So when you're asked to fight a war that's over nothing / It's best to join the side that's gonna win.

The songs of "Cassadaga" play to the "I'm Wide Awake It's Morning" and "Lifted" fans as opposed to those of "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn," due to its lack of electronically induced tracks.

But the theme of each Bright Eyes album is constant. They all seem to reflect Oberst's yearning for change, coupled with an uncertainty as to how to find a healthy way of doing so.

So, if it's the lyrics that draw a listener in, fans of "Digital Ash" will find "Cassadaga" enjoyable.

Although it's missing that teen angst, you-will-never-understand-me vibe, the lyrics definitely maintain their edge.

Throughout "Cassadaga," Oberst searches for a place he feels he belongs, ("I Must Belong Somewhere") as well as how he is affected by the goings-on of the world.

In "No One Would Riot for Less," he offers his perspective on the war: "You know war has no heart / It will kill you in the sunshine or happily in the dark."

He stresses his feelings of confusion toward his fate as well as the fate of others, but he exudes a hopefulness that he can perhaps stumble upon the change he's been looking for in his spontaneous travels.

But it's Oberst who describes himself best:

I've been coming and going since the day I was born

And I followed the breadcrumbs but I never got home

I grew old in an instant, now I am all on my own.

Fans can catch Oberst and Bright Eyes at the Cain's Ballroom on May 12. Tickets are $28 (limit four) at the Cain's box office, Starship Records and Tapes, Reasor's or at www.gettix.net.

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Jessica Brooks 581-8336
Union sophomore
satellite@tulsaworld.com

By JESSICA BROOKS Satellite Correspondent