People's Key, The

Folk-addled pre-indie (nee emo) from one of our greatest young songwriters. Deep lyrics, layered melodies, complex songs that go places. There’s something very -- god help me -- American about this sound. Like, if only Chris McCandless played guitar. Conor Oberst claims this is to be the last Bright Eyes record, in which case it’s a solid and confident bookend to a long, whiny, brave and brilliant 13ish-year career. (I didn’t even catch a single “Laura” in the lyrics.) Like everything Conor touches, this record is damn good -- but I just don’t love it the way I love I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning. I’m particularly annoyed by the frequent vox sample insertions of some dude rambling about multiple dimensions and breeding between humans and reptiles. (Think: bad audition reel from “What the Bleep”.)

RIYL: Elliott Smith, Bob Dylan (laugh it up, kids)

try: 2, 3, 9, 4, 1, 10
no FCCs

*1. START 4:50 to end, unless you want to hear Mr. Mystic rant about Genesis and Tesla. from there: mid-slow dark sidewindy western riff, doubled minor vox. spare but heavy bass drum. niiice bashy-yet-controlled breakdown towards the end. military snare. gets loud and angry. something about this track reminds me (superficially) of “the chain”.
*2. triumphant confident moving indie pop. starts with slowish exposed vox over pedal piano, picks up into what can only be described as a ‘springsteen chorus’ (i’ve been writing that a lot -- i think it’s coming back) with smart kit and pompy synth. this song is so good it’s a little unbelievable. yeah, it’s the single, but it deserves to be.
*3. attacky start, then killer choked flute synth that sounds like a plucked cello and a great slurry melody. fastish. bright and beamy chorus. “if it’s true what we’re made of, why do i hide from the rain?” fade :20 out, unless you want to hear Mr. Dumbshit rant about a pomegranate.
*4. slooow doom march deep bass drum and drop-down bass. great digital harmonies, then spiritual choral backing vox. atmospheric and gloomy.
5. upbeat, but difficult at first. jolting seasick 1-2-3 beat, ruddering reverby guitar. breaks into a smooth bright chorus: “i seen, i seen, i seen stranger things man.”
6. islandish, loose laid-back tempo. shakers, vibes, steel drum, light percussion, cymbal crashes like a steam train. suuper-echoey acapella bridge. scattered sampled ending.
7. rockin! bashy, guitar heavy. about as tight and smart a beat as bright eyes can pull off. handclaps. kinda new pornographers.
8. exposed vox, bellsy acoustic. light + insistent kit. gets reverby and fuzzy. actually morphs into a synth-bop happy bright bouncer... then puts its feet down at the end.
*9. reverb-soaked ambient echoey keys and naked vox. drumless. it’s basically conor and a haunted minor piano being sad for four minutes. sounds like ‘classic’ bright eyes: poison oak two-point-oh.
*10. midtempo, swaying, washy, soary, bellsy. more steel drum. more flute synth. the lyrics are poem structured, citing opposites: “one for the bread lines, one for the billionaires.” FADE OUT at 1:25, unless you want to hear Mr. Annoying New Age rant about “the cosmos”.