Cassadaga : Bright Eyes : Review : Rolling Stone

It doesn’t take a soothsayer to predict that in April 2007, American alt-rock fans will learn en masse that the new Bright Eyes album is named after a spiritualist community in Florida – 100 adult residents including 40 certified mediums, says Google. How much alt-rock needs to know this is another question, as is whether alt-rock needs the voice-over auntie whose nattering about psychic this-and-that vies with the discordant orchestration for too much of Cassadaga's six-minute opening track.

But these twin annoyances prove an acceptable way for Conor Oberst to get the bullshit out of his system. Certainly they're more efficient than the way he yoked the tuneful I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning to the noisy Digital Ash in a Digital Urn in 2005. Here, once the nattering is gone, it's gone for good. The remaining dozen tracks realize the promise manifest since Oberst's sprawling 2002 – let's remember all fourteen words of its title for flavor – Lifted, or the Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground. Musically, Cassadaga is fully formed, a considered synthesis of the catch-as-catch-can expansiveness of Oberst's Lifted-era bands with the country tendencies that have always undergirded his Middle American vocals. Longtime enabler Mike Mogis is everywhere, playing ten instruments all told. Nate Walcott mans multiple keyboards and arranges strings and woodwinds, which get pretty baroque on "Cleanse Song." The last track features just Oberst on guitar and synthesizer with some femme backup. There are more voice-overs, but nonetheless there's a stylistic spine here. Oberst's prog and jam-band tendencies are both subsumed by a sensibility that's Americana in a winning, all-embracing sense. Americanapolitan, let's call it.

As Oberst well knows, those with the gift of melody are allowed to tell us anything that's on their minds, and he hasn't stopped exploiting the privilege. The first song establishes a crisis – nattering aside, "Future markets, holy wars/Been tried 10,000 times before" (and plenty else) addresses something real. The second song suggests a quest – to Cassadaga, among many other named places. But as usual, not every track justifies the buildup. A rehab saga lurks hereabouts, sometimes out front ("Cleanse Song"), sometimes done up as an existential desolation saga ("If the Brakeman Turns My Way"). "Soul Singer in a Session Band" explores midcareer artistic confusion like thousands of songs before it. Waxing metaphysical with "a postmodern author who didn't exist," Oberst concludes that he's just like that soul singer: "I was a hopeless romantic/Now I'm just turning tricks." Give Oberst credit for freshening up a familiar theme – but not for linking it to any crisis-and-quest.

Similarly, the album is loaded with love songs, and some of these are just love songs – but remarkable love songs. You don't have to be an E! addict to assume that "Classic Cars" kisses off indie vamp Winona Ryder, but that inside dope is a distraction – this is as fine a reflection on the love of an older woman as Rod Stewart's "Maggie May," one whose details add a vividness that has nothing to do with anyone's biography. "Make a Plan to Love Me" would seem to address a particular career woman, and maybe some gossipmonger will tell us who. But again it doesn't matter – literally millions of young men and women are embroiled in such contradictions, and with the help of four professional backup girls cooing the title hook, maybe Oberst will inspire a few resolutions.

The gossip in us will wonder whether the unadorned finale addresses the same career woman, who has pretty clearly just aborted a fetus Oberst helped conceive. But give Oberst credit for connecting it back to the universal concerns he claims. Coming after "No One Would Riot for Less," a grimly courageous example of a love-at- the-end-of-the-world subgenre we all wish didn't exist, and "I Must Belong Somewhere," resigned in a chin-up way to a world whose imperfections could prove fatal, its conclusion seems pretty conclusive: "I took off my shoes and walked into the woods/I felt lost and found with every step I took." In Cassadaga, Oberst hoped to commune with the dead. On Cassadaga, he shows he can still tell us something by communing with himself.

ROBERT CHRISTGAU

(Posted: Apr 2, 2007)

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Review 1 of 11

4of 5 Stars

A great deal of Connor Oberst's charm is that he is usually saying something worth repeating. From the opening line of "Corporate or colonial the movement is unstoppable" to the album ending "Lime Tree" (in which he sings to a lover who has recently had an abortion), Oberst will certainly have you looking up and saying, "That makes so much since". Every line is painted with deep imagery and sparks not just your imagination but will leave you feeling you know not only yourself, but also the world better. The rocking beat of "Hot Knifes" recall the drum corp. assembled for Bright Eye's 2002 break through Lifted, or the story ect and in "Middleman" he finds a Victorian type groove. During the record Oberst even tips his hat to his predecessors, "Four Winds" is a Dylan metaphor and the "psycadelic angle tugging on my hand" suggests Gram Parsons idea of cosmic country, and takes on modern themes of social significance from the war to religion to drug addiction, the universal feeling of just wanting to be loved. Oberst always sings with his soul and on Cassadaga, he is once again flying high.

Jan 13, 2008 17:08:04

Review 2 of 11

3of 5 Stars

regardless of what i am going to say, I think the record
sounds good and i am proud of Connor oberst for making
such a well produced record. As we all know everyone likes
to see a band change thier sound every once and a while,
myself included. But what Bright Eyes had was perfectly LO-FI
and a great epitome of indie rock. When i went to check out
this record, i was expecting LO-FI. But thats not what i got. I
feel like Conor is looking for a more mainstream audiance,
and is trying to appeal to more people. Never the less, it
sounds good, and it still has connors lyrical greatness. so i
dont realy have anything to complain about.

Jun 15, 2007 23:21:20

Review 3 of 11

4of 5 Stars

"bright eyes" are many things. but the main thing they do is give thought to ever aspect of life. Conor Oberst may be the Dylan of our time. giving a women's epic saga in "hot knives" in a well thought out way no one else could pull off. also striking back at a past lover over looking him in "make a plan to love me" he sings of how much time we don't have .so you should love now. and also taking it to Bush with "no one would riot for less". hell is coming........ no wait! hell is here. and he's leaving with nothing but his lover. "cassadaga" is very well written and well thought out album from the former boy prodigy of music. no longer prodigy, he's a grown up genius.

Jun 11, 2007 22:09:10

Review 4 of 11

4of 5 Stars

Great record. Is it as good as Wide Awake? No. But I'm going to bet it'll stand the test of time. But one thing I noticed while listening to it: Is it just me, or does it feel like Conor lost a bit of his soul? The emotion doesn't seem to be there, neither happy nor sad. It's been chalked up to growing up, but still....It feels to me like something is missing. The only exception for me is Lime Tree, the last track, and Make A Plan To Love Me. Those are the two songs you need on your iPod.

May 12, 2007 18:17:46

Review 5 of 11

4of 5 Stars

I personally believe this is the second greatest albumn put out
by Bright Eyes (Second to I'm Wide Awake its Morning). He
finally has brought all his elements of song writing together
and made it into a great album. This will hopefully throw him
up there with the folk rock elites. I think after all the time he
spent experimenting with different sounds he has finally
found something that is radio friendly and that also will keep
the old fans like myself.

May 3, 2007 09:17:37

Review 6 of 11

3of 5 Stars

Cassadaga has headed down a slightly different road than bright eyes usual melodies. With whiney guitar rifts, and the usual awe-inspiring lyrics it sounds like classic connor oberst ran into CMT, and couldnt find his way apart again. Bright Eyes has certainly left their niche of simple acoustic songs for a more classic country sound. The lyrics have not suffered because of this change however, & connor is still belting out lines that put your senses in shock.

Apr 22, 2007 11:06:11

Review 7 of 11

4of 5 Stars

As a follower of the Saddle Creek stable of artists,
i see Conor as the leader of a very eclectic
pack of artists. Since Cassadaga's Tuesday
release, I have been pleased by the buzz so
rightfully deserved and attracted to his latest
effort. Conor and others of his era
like Jimmy Tamborello (Postal Service) breathe new life into
the landscape of music blaring over the internet
into millions of living rooms across the U.S.
He is appealing to a wide demog that crosses
C/W and indie rock fans. Under the Bright Eyes
moniker, Conor bubbles with fresh creativity
on each song and talented
in a Bob Dylan sense appealing to a wide audience including
myself who is a Rhapsody Online listener at 49.

Face it, this is a damn good listen despite what Pitchfork says.

Give the artist the credit he is due I say.

Of all the reviews, I think RS got it right. 4 out of 5 stars.

Bright Eyes, you have given many of us (baby boomers) a
reason to have renewed hope and faith that there is life after
The Beatles and Neil Young. For this reason, thank you and
keep up the
good work. You are in your prime and this new album
Cassadaga really hit a home run with this West Coast kid.

-Seattle, WA.

Apr 11, 2007 21:51:38

Review 8 of 11

4of 5 Stars

Cassadaga is actually quite surprising... It's more orchestral and country-tinged than anything that Conor has ever done. It's a magical yet tragic experience that has some outstanding instrumentation and even better lyrics. "Four Winds" is a beautiful and indie pop gem that will break your heart. Check It Out!

Apr 10, 2007 14:03:28

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