Bright Eyes is the pseudonym of indie prodigy Conor Oberst, the self-produced singer songwriter with the puppy dog eyes who started making recordings in his parent’s Omaha, Nebraska house in his early teens, and has recently risen to the highest peaks of indie stardom. With over a dozen albums released in the past ten years, Bright Eyes is an extremely prolific artist, which helps add to his status as a critic’s darling and pop wunderkind. Whether you’re an established Bright Eyes fan, or are looking for a great introduction to this perceptive songwriter, this countdown of the top ten songs by Bright Eyes will help you get to know the best of this artist’s sizeable canon.
10. You Will. You? Will. You? Will. You? Will
from Lifted or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground
Bright Eyes shows off his craftsman-like songwriting in this charming ballad. Like many of Bright Eyes works, “You Will” examines the delicate balance between idealism and disappointment, this time in the realm of romance. This song follows the transition of an innocent, childlike love based on certain and unwavering devotion into a love riddled with doubt and worry.
9. Tereza And Tomas
from Letting Off The Happiness
With “Tereza And Tomas,” Bright Eyes offers a straight-up ballad of innocence and longing, a song that sits halfway between a comforting lullaby and the kind of tune you whistle on your way home alone at nights. Bright Eyes adds a few of his trademark unusual production choices, including a bell that fades in and out of prominence in the arrangement, setting this tune apart from other, more generic love songs.
8. An Attempt To Tip The Scales
from Fevers And Mirrors
Here, Bright Eyes shows off the perception, introspection, and lyrical chops that first gained him a following.
8. Lover I Don’t Have To Love
from Lifted or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground
In this indie rock style tune with driving electric guitar, Bright Eyes breaks out of his traditional “wounded poet” image. Here, he demands the right to escape the world of love and introspection for a quick, drunken fumble in the dark, and claims his right to leave his singer-songwriter persona in the dust as he becomes a hard rocker, even for just a few moments. The result is a catchy song that will show any listener that there is more to Bright Eyes than flowery prose.
9. A Perfect Sonnet
from Every Day And Every Night
“A Perfect Sonnet” shows Bright Eyes exploring what different genres have to offer, and is a perfect example of how much difference it makes for an artist like Bright Eyes to have control over the arrangements and production choices on his record. As the emotions of the lyrics shift back and forth from tender reveries about love to harsh bouts of self-criticism and frustration with the limitations of art, Bright Eyes shuffles between climbing the heights of hard rock and slipping effortlessly into classic folk singer territory. A major label wouldn’t be very likely to take these kinds of non-commercial risks, but left to his own devices Bright Eyes is free to try these kinds of innovative ideas.
5. Waste Of Paint
from Lifted or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground
This folksy ballad brings us Bright Eyes at his most self-aware, as he compares his own doubts about his art to those of other people, in other realms, struggling equally to find their own contentment and their own confidence.
4. We Are Nowhere, And Its Now
from I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning
Bright Eyes brings in a superb guest vocalist on this track: legendary singer Emmylou Harris. The storyline and style of the song are pure Bright Eyes (substance abuse, isolation, tentative idealism creeping through) but it is Harris who brings it to the next level.
3. At The Bottom Of Everything
from I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning
With this quirky track, Bright Eyes takes us inside a tragic event, but writes the painful story in bright, upbeat tones. In this song, Bright Eyes offers the tale of a man who comforts a fellow doomed passenger on a crashing plane by telling her that what is happening is, in fact, her birthday party, and not a plane crash at all. This song is unique in the Bright Eyes canon, and there’s nothing quite like it anywhere else in the Indie Rock or Pop world. Or perhaps in the world at all.
1. When The President Talks To God.
Bright Eyes’ performance of this controversial non-album single is better watched than discussed. The Saddle Creek Records websites has the video clip of Bright Eyes performing this song live on the Tonight Show, available to download free at http://www.saddle-creek.com/bands/brighteyes/downloads.html
1. Let’s Not S**t Ourselves (To Love And To Be Loved)
from Lifted or The Story Is In The Soil, Keep Your Ear To The Ground
“Lifted” is perhaps the strongest and most cohesive album in the Bright Eyes catalogue, and this, its final track, is the album’s crown jewel. “Let’s Not. . .” shows the singer beginning to succesfully bridge the chasm between ideals and reality. Complete with vivid images, a rousing backup band, and a few bona fide realizations about the condition of being alive, this track encapsulates a rush of cautious and realistic hope that is completely infectious to the listener.
Reference:
- You can get the latest tour dates and artist info, and buy all of Bright Eyes’ albums, at the Saddle Creek Records website, online at www.saddle-creek.com/
