Today the new Bright Eyes album Cassadaga hit stores and I promptly picked up a copy at the FYE that moved into the first floor of my building. I first started listening to him in 2000 with Fevers and Mirrors and enjoyed it so much I bought everything else he put out I could find the next day. I liked him. He was confused, angry, young, romantically challenged and drank too much. Sound like someone you know? He also had this desperation in his voice that sounded as if he felt like he losing control and I latched my own 20 year old little-girl-lost pain onto it. That kind of vulnerability drew in art students everywhere and carrying that demographic his popularity grew along with the budding Omaha music scene. To prepare for this purchase I went to Borders and perused their music magazine section for reviews and the obligatory PR interview rounds. I sat for a while and read around 6 pieces in which several said in some way or another how “we watched Conor Oberst grow up in front of us” but I am going to go against the grain on this idea hoping it won’t compromise any favorable sentiment I still have for him.
The idea I am debating is that Oberst never really did grow up. The rest of us did but this Manboy is still nauseatingly fragile (he even looks like he would get his ass kicked in a "take it outside" fight with a MaryKate Olsen) although every time I have seen him in concert he has this cool detachment that doesn’t match the tone of his lyrics. I am not going to lie, I liked I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning. A lot. There is time and place for his music because it is good and satisfying. Although I have not listened to Cassadaga yet I doubt that there is little departure from the rest of his efforts. I am starting to wonder if Conor his just suffering from some kind of stunted adolescence or is it a gimmick? With the sales from his last two albums and the projected sales from Cassadaga, we are buying it. Hook, line, and sinker.
The idea I am debating is that Oberst never really did grow up. The rest of us did but this Manboy is still nauseatingly fragile (he even looks like he would get his ass kicked in a "take it outside" fight with a MaryKate Olsen) although every time I have seen him in concert he has this cool detachment that doesn’t match the tone of his lyrics. I am not going to lie, I liked I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning. A lot. There is time and place for his music because it is good and satisfying. Although I have not listened to Cassadaga yet I doubt that there is little departure from the rest of his efforts. I am starting to wonder if Conor his just suffering from some kind of stunted adolescence or is it a gimmick? With the sales from his last two albums and the projected sales from Cassadaga, we are buying it. Hook, line, and sinker.
5 comments:
Five posts in one day? Calm down, Colleen.
You must have seriously had a slow day at work, apart from playing Barbie building manager. How do you multitask so well? I mean, you work, you work out, you have a social life, and you keep abreast of the music scene and such pressing newsworthy issues as the current bunny crisis and college pasttimes. I am in awe.
I just realized that he looks exactly like our painter, this guy named Adam. They could be twins.
I hope my callous remarks haven't discouraged you from posting.
I haven't seen you in a while and I'm starting to go through Colleen withdraw.
Colleen? Ohhhh, Colleen? Where are you?
If you are going to pull us in and weave us into your life with your daily blog, then you should really post daily. The people get restless when they go for long stretches with no new info.
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