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| Conor Oberst, prodigious Bright Eyes frontperson and indie-rock hottie, is 27. Cassadaga is the seventh studio album he’s churned out in that time, a statistic slightly sickening to those of us who have frankly pissed our youth up the wall. |
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In fact, listening to the thing, you wonder whether he hasn’t employed the showbiz trick of shaving a few years off, not just because of his alarmingly prolific work-rate. Named after (or “for”) a spiritualist community in Florida, Cassadaga is a remarkably sophisticated piece of work, which finds a slightly world-weary Oberst ruminating on his beleaguered country of origin. There’s nothing about Bush chatting with God this time, but there are pertinent mentions of wars and icecaps, and (controversially) the burning of the Bible and Koran.
Place-names and zeitgeist-y buzzwords aside, Cassadaga reeks of the US of A, and recalls any number of vaguely alternative American country and folk artists. Tracks like ‘If The Brakeman Turns My Way’ and ‘Classic Cars’ will encourage the regular Dylan comparisons, but there’s also a debt to more recent alt-country types like Ryan Adams. Elsewhere, ‘Make A Plan To Love Me’ is a full-on, schmaltzy ballad, and the weather-beaten, anthemic ‘Soul Singer in a Session Band’ slightly Pogues-esque. The album seems to find its own voice on what would once have been the second side of the album (‘Middleman’, ‘No One Would Riot For Less’), which sees a shift from retro Americana whimsy and towards a more subtle, complex sound.
An ambitious, fully formed record, which will consolidate the transition of Bright Eyes from indie heroes into a slightly awkward mainstream operation. |
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| Mat Beal - 8/10 |
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