NEWS
EVENTS
'Upside Down Mountain', Conor Oberst
Indie | Thursday 11th September 2014 | Sean
In 2011 Conor Oberst warned fans that Bright Eyes’ new album The People’s Key would likely be their last. If this itself wasn’t a hard enough pill to swallow for the band’s ardent following, the slightly underwhelming, if not full blown disappointing, experience of the album itself would make this much tougher news to take in. The album marked a sonic departure from the “rootsy Americana shit” Oberst affectionately informed Billbord he had burnt himself out on. The hard electric sounds of The People’s Key are as well arranged and produced as anything the band has put out to date, yet, even to the most well attuned Oberst listener, it is stiflingly difficult to get into. Admittedly, the band had set a high bar for themselves in having to follow 2007’s cinematic epic Cassadaga. Adorned with a small army of musicians, Bright Eyes had seemingly reached their textual and conceptual ceiling, leaving one to wonder where in the world they could go next without inevitably sounding like they were taking steps backwards.
Since then Oberst has kept himself busy, reforming with side projects Desaparecidos and The Mystic Valley Band. Here Oberst can be heard flexing his stylistic muscles, loosening up on production, perhaps taking the whole thing a little less seriously, and seemingly having fun. However, as is often the way with side projects, your expectations of the artist in question change once a different name and new supporting cast are introduced; the stakes are lower, and it often shows in the music. Despite the odd treasures to be found among these records, for many they are to be humored as a well deserved respite from the responsibility of having to fill your own boots every few years. The respite is welcome, provided it eventually leads back in some way to what we liked about the artist in the first place. Needless to say, there has been a simmering hunger for an Oberst album of real substance for a while now, and mercifully with his first ever solo effort, Upside Down Mountain, he has delivered.
On Upside Down Mountain we find Oberst back on refreshingly familiar terrain. Opening the the acoustic and atmospheric ‘Time Forgot’, it is immediately clear Oberst was maybe a little hasty in emancipating himself from the Americana he has become so synonymous with. In this setting Oberst’s apocalyptic landscapes sound more resolute than the feeling of despair that clouded The People’s Key. Not to suggest that he is simply retreading old haunts, the album sounds surprisingly bright, compelling and weighty, yet easygoing, summery even. Frequent appearances of delayed guitars, punching horns, and compressed drums evoke the best of 80s pop in places. The album is accented elegantly by the saintly Swedish sisters from First Aid Kit, returning the favour following Oberst’s collaboration with them on their 2012 breakthrough The Lion’s Roar.
Lyrically, without dispensing entirely with the heady surrealism of The People’s Key, we find Oberst on far more tenable human ground. ‘Common Knowledge’ tells a striking friendship saga, whilst ‘Governor’s Ball’ details an ill-fated night at a festival, and at his most sentimental and darn-right adorable, Oberst paints the plight of a parent on the fully stripped back ‘You Are Your Mother’s Child’.
Much like Benjamin Gibbard’s (Death Cab For Cutie) recent first solo effort Former Lives, every song on Upside Down Mountain sounds like its own event, each bringing its own colours to the collection. It makes for a less focused vision, when compared to their respective bands, but reads cohesively nonetheless. This album would certainly be of interest to any that may have strayed from the Oberst camp in recent years. Upside Down Mountain may not sound as urgent and rare as the best of Bright Eyes, but it finds the one time wunderkind with a renewed emotional intensity, and a collection of great songs to show for it.
So assume not that this is another detour delaying the arrival of the next Bright Eyes album you’ve been waiting for. This is what you were waiting for!
'Upside Down Mountain' is availible on Nonsuch Records
Article by Sean McKinney
