Cassadaga
Bright Eyes
Score:85
Reviewer: Justin Pearsall
Label: Saddle Creek (USA), Polydor (UK), Universal (Australia)
Reviewed: Mar 26th '07, Released:2007
Conor Oberst, Bright Eyes, has embraced wider themes, grander arrangements and eloquent production to create Cassadaga. Displaying a new found maturity, Bright Eyes has made the difficult transition from above average, likeable songsmith, to serious artist, delivering a record full of weighty ideas and expert execution. Partly a product of the skills and sounds developed on prior albums and partly a foray into the unknown, Cassadaga may be the best release of early 2007.
‘Clairaudients’ opens Cassadaga, the song’s title is a reference to spiritualists who speak to the dead. The instrumental dominance of ‘Clairaudients’ is the first sign of Oberst’s musical maturation, the song growing from quiet origins into a grand statement. A more measured lyrical approach is another facet of Oberst’s advancement. While he still displays a love of alliteration and allusion, both of which have led to criticisms of pretentiousness, there is an ever increasing simplicity that takes the listener hand-in-hand through the album.
The oft-cited influence of Dylan and other journeymen is evident in both the music and lyrics of Cassadaga. Up-tempo beats, golden-era organ and violin intermissions on ‘Four Winds’ reminds of Dylan’s violin-led ‘Hurricane’, and the held notes leading into the chorus on ‘If The Brakeman Turns My Way’ hark back to ‘Like A Rolling Stone’. Such homage to prior sounds is tempered by the ability of Oberst to mesh the new-and-the-old. This skill is the key reason for the album sounding so easily agreeable.
Old fans will recognise Oberst’s songwriting style and effortless melodies, while the extra instrumentation, unconventional moments and diversity of the album will partly address those that felt that Oberst never reached the artistic heights of the artists he was supposed to succeed.
With the 2005 double release of I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning and Digital Ash In A Digital Urn, Oberst proved diversity. Now, with Cassadaga any remaining questions about his achievements can be laid to rest. Oberst, the band, and their collaborators, have created something special in Cassadaga.
