BRIGHT EYES
Four Winds EP
Saddle Creek
· I guess that whole synth-punk thing didn’t quite work out as Conor had hoped.
There was a distinct difference between 2005’s duo releases I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning and Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, but not just down stylistic lines. While the first certainly played along with the idea that our kid Conor Oberst is one of the strongest songwriters since Bob Dylan’s early days, it’s digitally-driven brethren was soulless and damp, awkward songs spruced up with clunky technology. The latter could’ve very well cancelled out the former, were it not packaged separately (and so easy to file away and let rest alone).
The Four Winds EP dwells in Wide Awake-styled waters, even looking back to Bright Eyes’s first near-masterpiece, the behemoth Lifted or the Story is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground. Almost, but gone are the jagged edges that made Oberst so interesting in the first place. In their place resumes the growth of his undeniable songwriting ability and epic sense of song craft. "Reinvent the Wheel" turns momentarily operatic, turning towards Copeland-style orchestral swells. The A-side itself is spruced up with some jubilant violin and can’t help but call back to Ian Tyson’s "Four Strong Winds." "Stray Dog Freedom" falls in line with Oberst’s occasional Neil Young fixation, while "Cartoon Blues" floats heavily along with multi-tracked finger-picking coming from every side.
Closing with the gorgeous echo of "Tourist Trap" and clocking in at less than 30 minutes, these six songs stand up as a worthwhile record unto themselves. It makes for an exciting early peek at what is to come with the upcoming full-length release, Cassadaga.
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