Bright Eyes鈥� is a sound and word collage: confessional yet opaque, intimate yet anthemic 鈥� dense and dizzying and dark, yet catchy and engaging.
鈥淔ive Dice, All Threes,鈥� which will be released Friday, is the trio鈥檚 first album of new songs since 2020. Frontman Conor Oberst鈥檚 familiar, distinctive punk-folk tremolo serves as the aural and spiritual anchor.
鈥淚 hate the protest singer staring at me in the mirror,鈥� he sings on 鈥淗ate.鈥�
Oberst is good at his job, though, as are his bandmates. Mike Mogis and Nate Walcott provide inventive accompaniment on instruments ranging from banjo and pedal steel to synthesizer and celeste. Electric guitars drenched in pedal effects are prominent in the lo-fi but intricate sonic patchwork, as is movie dialogue and a dice game.
Oberst had a hand in all the compositions, with help from Walcott and Alex Levine of the So So Glos. They draw from punk, power pop and classic rock, with sprinkles of jazz and hip-hop. It's an appropriately expansive setting for discourses on discontent, disillusion and death.
The album is not as relentlessly heavy as that sounds. The first song sports a whistling introduction worthy of and some of Oberst鈥檚 observations are similarly playful.
鈥淵ou shouldn鈥檛 place bets on the New York Mets,鈥� he sings on 鈥淏ells and Whistles.鈥� Grim contemplations about mortality on 鈥淭he Time I Have Left鈥� are leavened by an ironic singalong verse that goes, 鈥淪ha la la la la la,鈥� although a vocal contribution from baritone ensures the mood doesn鈥檛 get too bright.
The tunnel at the end of the light is a recurring topic. ethereal backing vocals distinguish 鈥淎ll Threes,鈥� which laments the toll of time, as does 鈥淭iny Suicides,鈥� which ends with sobbing. On the final song, 鈥淭in Soldier Boy,鈥� Walcott鈥檚 trumpet serenades Oberst鈥檚 repeated reminder that our days are numbered. Point taken.
Other subject matter includes and the Bible, blown speakers and used amplifiers, cracks in the heart, bad dreams, artificial intelligence, aging and the weather.
鈥淗ot in LA tonight,鈥� Oberst sings on 鈥淩eal Feel 105掳,鈥� seemingly . He鈥檚 a town crier with the latest news, striving to make sense of it all.
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Steven Wine, The Associated Press
