Omaha songwriter Conor Oberst has enjoyed considerable success with his band Bright Eyes, who last year saw their album Cassadaga enter the US top five. This eponymous album is the fourth solo record he has released, and the first since 1996’s The Soundtrack To My Movie. Recorded in Mexico earlier this year with an assembly of musicians called The Mystic Valley Band, the album finds Oberst kicking back and enjoying the freedom that comes with making a hit record.
A definite sense of fun permeates Conor Oberst, with the singer allowing himself to indulge a few whimsical ideas; one track, the uptempo rocker ‘NYC-Gone, Gone’ lasts just over a minute, while another, ‘Valle Mistico (Ruben’s Song)’ – consisting of nothing other than an intermittent horn wail – clocks in at barely 50 seconds. For the most part, though, the album alternates between low-key acoustica and more energetic, rockier fare.
Whilst I certainly admire Oberst’s craft as a songwriter, his brand of folk-pop – which boasts a touch of Elliot Smith here, a smidgeon of Paul Simon there – overall leaves me pretty cold. Even the more raucous numbers, such as the Tom Petty-esque Americana of ‘Sausalito’ or the Johnny Cash-like country of ‘I Don’t Want To Die (In A Hospital)’, lack a certain stylistic finesse.
Listening to Conor Oberst is a bit like purchasing a Muller yoghurt and discovering that the fruit corner is empty. And as sensations go, that’s just not very rock ‘n’ roll.